Falling in love with Orange
by Maya. Y
Summary: "Marry me," he said, and she felt as if he was promising her a fairy tale. But love, Rukia knew, was only for the lucky.
1. Chapter 1

The day had started off much greater than the ones in the previous week.

The sun was just high enough in the sky to give the blades of grass an appealing glow; each crystal marble of dew reflecting its inner sparkle back to the sky, shimmering as the wind blew ever so softly through the newly mown lushes of green. Every time a foot disrupted its harmony, the scent of rain lifted through the whole of the city and masked the air in a glimmering hue. The sun itself, washed over each square of land, pleasantly blanketing it in a cocoon of warmth that soothed the people in the vicinity. Even the singing of the birds managed to orchestrate into a unique song that chorused throughout the skies.

It marked a perfect day.

The only thing Rukia regretted was waking up that blissful morning to get to work.

"Marry me."

By the dull pounding in her temples, Rukia could feel the familiar throbbing of a headache starting up. She had been patient up until now, enduring everything the demon of a man could throw at her; the flirting, the winking, she even managed to calm herself down from breaking his arm when he opted to make a pass at her rear.

It was already hell on earth for every waking moment of the day, just being in the same building with the fool. If this was fate trying to toss this out for a couple of laughs, she wasn't amused. Not. At. All. The mere thought of spending the rest of her life with him sent shudders of terror down her spine, there just wasn't enough painkillers in the world to get her by a day with him.

"Come on. Why do you even need time to think about it?"

Her thoughts started to run haywire -hysterical even. Did she do something bad in her past life to be punished like this? Were they testing her? Was that what this was all about?

Did all of Buddha, Jesus and peanut butter tag-team in a sick game of 'drive Rukia insane', and cruelly decided to bring this man upon her life, just to see how deep her sanity ran? She slowly started to pinch at the bridge of her nose. Maybe, just maybe, her whole life was nothing but a dream; a horrible, mind-aching nightmare –probably from all the stress of her work… and when it was time to wake up, it would all be gone.

Anything and everything affiliated with that obstinacy would disappear.

"I mean, isn't it the obvious thing to do?"

The biggest misfortune in her life, she was confident to say.

With no sense of shame, he sickly battered his eyelashes at her… as if it would falter her. Rukia felt a twitch at her brow, _'who the hell even has orange hair?!'_

She cursed under her breath. Were his eyes shimmering? Were they really?

'_Oh my god… they're twinkling…'_

Just as she was about to look away, the one beam of sunlight in the room decided to mess with her mind and illuminated his face... his rather gorgeous, stunning face that was so innocently resting in his hand. Then she noticed the firmness of his arm and felt her eyes tracing over his shoulders, each and every godly-sculpted muscle filling the striped shirt just enough to give his physique a tight, well-built look… _and those eyes…_

"Silence is a ye-"

"No."

Rukia bolted up from her seat. Short, inky tresses swayed frantically from side to side at such an absurd proposition, "no. No. No. No. No."

The man on the other side of the desk followed suite and got up. Straightening his broad back, his height over towered Rukia's much more petite figure. His lip protruded in a pout and he lifted his arm to place it over his heart, "six no's? Now that's just hurtful."

Pearly white teeth gnawed at the lower lip to stop a string of profanities from escaping. She would abuse him later, but they were at work right now and she could already see the curious faces of her coworkers peeking from the blinds of her office. She had to keep things professional for now, so instead, Rukia settled with a glare, "with all due respect, Kurosaki-san, I'm grateful for your… proposal, but I must decline. I don't date my colleagues."

He had the Gods to thank that the power of shooting lasers from her eyes wasn't bestowed on her, because if they had, he would've been incinerated in a heartbeat.

Rukia slowly exhaled to compose herself. Grabbing a handful of haphazardly stacked papers, she started to organize them, desperately hoping that the man would take the hint and leave her office, "that's a great work ethic, and I hope that you continue to keep it-"

The petite woman forced the corner of her lip to twitch up in a smile, "why thank you, I plan on doing just that." She walked over to the other side of the room and placed the mountain of paperwork at the dark, wooden bench in front of the window, her back facing her tormentor. She saw the sun leaking pleasantly into the room, giving it a sensual hue – today started as such a pleasant day too… it was such a pity, a waste of a good day. Reading over the paperwork, the raven-haired beauty failed to register the sound of the blinds closing shut and a pair of feet making its way to her –elegantly, confidently.

"But…"

Warm hands grabbed at her slim waist and forcefully turned her around, letting go only to imprison her in a makeshift cage of well-toned muscle –sensual, sensual muscle that flexed under her dazzling amethyst eyes.

"…I'm not your colleague, I'm your boss," strikingly tanned face leaned in close to hers; clashing with her smooth, snow white skin. A handsome grin etched on his lips, showing rows of perfectly aligned teeth –a grin that would've reduced the majority of women to nothing but a puddle of water, "and I'm not asking for a date," Rukia felt his breath blow over her lip every time they opened to talk and could see his amber eyes in finer detail. A stunning and dangerous combination of amber and gold to give them a charming flair, "I'm asking for your life. With mine. Together. With lots of happiness and…"

A little satisfied mewl escaped from his lips, "…_lots of children_…until we grow old and die."

Blushing was something that did not happen to her. Ever. But right now, she was fighting a lost battle against the blood that had pooled adorably at her cheeks.

Do not, however, misunderstand.

Just because his words managed to draw a blush from her, did not mean that she would start mewling over at his feet. Oh no, no, no, Rukia still hated his guts. Her admitting that he had breath-taking eyes, perfectly aligned teeth and a great body didn't mean anything either.

It wasn't like she was blind, he was blessed in the looks department, she acknowledged that; it just didn't do him any good against her, "listen here Kurosaki Ichigo, we're in the office right now, _your workplace_, and you better drop it before I have your company guessing how you died."

Ichigo gave a low, husky purr; one that vibrated deep in his chest, "I love it when you threaten me."

She was either going to die from suppressed rage or from a sudden blood rush to the face, she swore to God she was, "I'll ask nicely for you to step back, _Kurosaki-san_. If you value your future generation of mini carrot-tops, I suggest you comply." She growled lowly, if anything, her warning encouraged the taller man to lean his face closer and nuzzle the crook of her neck. With no hesitation, Rukia lifted her heel and stabbed it painfully on his foot.

No amount of expensive leather would be able to absorb the pain that was to come.

An uncharacteristic yelp of agony rippled in the office and Rukia let out a breath of relief when the ginger headed man backed off to nurse his abused foot. The door of her office burst open to reveal several curious heads poking in to see what all the commotion was about, "what happened Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia plastered a smile on her face and walked over to where the man was crouching over his foot, _'as if you didn't know, you nosy bastards,' _she felt pleasantly happy with herself when Ichigo snapped his head up to face her, his face contorted in pain, "you stubbed your toe pretty hard, are you alright, Kurosaki-san?" The curious workers stifled their laugh at her remark. How was it possible to stub your toe when you were wearing six hundred dollar leather shoes?

Shooing the workers away, Rukia felt a satisfying smile stretch across her face when Ichigo got up and stood with much of his weight on his right leg, _'serves the idiot right.'_ Wearing an expression that promised much more pain in the foreseeable future, she dusted at the man's shoulders and started to fix up his electric blue tie, inching tighter around his neck with each passing minute, "I'm sure you have places to be and important hands to shake. Pray to God that they are as patient with you as I am, Kurosaki Ichigo." Smiling, Rukia stepped back and led him to the door.

"I hope you have a great day, Kurosaki-san."

Ichigo readjusted his tie so that the fabric wasn't constricting his windpipes. In all his years of working at the management, never had he encountered a woman who enticed him as much as that she-demon, midget did. Now, he did admit that he had met numerous ladies of great caliber - celebrities, daughters of big, powerful company bosses and outstanding chief executive officers in their own field. All who were very, very fine looking he had to say.

Though not the one to boast, he was pretty damn efficient in his own turf as well; and to add the icing on the cake, he knew that he was pretty easy on the eyes. Yet, this vertically challenged woman, 'who had a pair of superb, creamy legs,' he mentally added -with her gorgeous amethyst speckled orbs, plump carnation pink lips and smooth, snow-white complexion- blatantly challenged his position on her first day of work and completely threw him off track. It was a rush of absolute disbelief at first, females fawned at his feet, not the other way around –_especially not because some crazy Thumbelina sized demon kicked him in the shins._

At first, he was dumbfounded at such impudence; she was a little spitfire who needed to be shown who was the alpha in this relationship –the top dog, the boss. Everyday was a battle against her feisty tongue for Ichigo and it most likely would've driven him crazy if not for the fact that it all changed.

On one particular day, everything _shifted_. The day didn't start out too extravagantly and there were certainly no warning signs of what was to come that very afternoon. But when it did, it hit him like a five-ton truck doing two hundred on a freeway.

He didn't remember what they were arguing about, and honestly? It didn't matter too much.

All he could recall was the fact that he was in his office.

With Rukia.

At Night.

_Alone_.

And he had been very conscious of her deliciously pink tongue as she shouted. Ichigo believed himself to be a man who got around fairly well, so he had never been so fixated on somebody's _tongue _before. Nevertheless, her mouth captivated his attention that night and each time they opened to try and say something, he felt his lungs constrict.

When Rukia had slammed her small fist on the desk and stood up to yell even more, looking up from where he was seated, Ichigo swore to God that he was winded -for Rukia was breathtaking in her fury. She literally glowed with a fierce inner energy that erupted to life, her amethyst eyes were bright with agitation and her stance was stiff and insistent, making it obvious that their argument was one fight that she would not back down from.

Ichigo vividly recalled the look of pure rebelliousness on her face and remembered how it had aroused him beyond belief.

So he did the obvious thing to do. He reached over for her neck and brought her lip crashing down onto his.

And she was _delicious_.

He had hungrily devoured her lip like a parched kitten lapping at milk, his tongue prodded and explored every inch of her mouth –_feeling it, memorizing it. _He was even conscious of the dainty hand of hers that was on his chest; feeling the sensation of the scalding heat through the material of his shirt.

Slowly, he had started to feel dizzy at the lack of oxygen and unwillingly detached his mouth from hers, almost _whimpering_ when he did so; they were both breathing ridiculously hard and his heart felt like it was beating out of control. He didn't know what color his face was but he knew that it must have been close to scarlet. The heat in the office was increasing tremendously and their proximity to one another didn't help matters much –her standing in between is his legs also made him realize that he had a certain _problem_ that he desperately hoped she would relieve.

Of course, this was Rukia he was talking about. So what did she do?

She picked up the steel nameplate that had his name engraved on it and slammed it straight across his head –which was _so not_ sexy.

It had been several months since the incident; Ichigo could still feel the pain on cold days. Despite this aching memory, he felt _no regret_ for what he had done. Rukia, he also realized, had a knack for picking up whatever was closest to her to use as a weapon whenever she _disciplined_ him. The handsome man would've been lying if he said he never imaged little fluffy, pink handcuff scenarios. He wasn't a fetish fan, but if it was her, Ichigo didn't mind looking into masochism. Running his hand through his short, orange locks at the memory, he gave an amused snort and started to head towards the door.

"Love you too…"

Just as his injured foot stepped out of the threshold of her office, he turned around with a playful smirk, "_sweetheart_."

Rukia subconsciously reached for the closest object to her, a glass vase, and realized that her fingers were twitching, _trembling,_ to inflict some serious, _permanent _damage to that man. He was going to be the end of her sanity; she could feel it.

Exhaling deeply, she closed her eyes and counted to three. It didn't really help her too much, but it gave her enough time to acknowledge the fact that if she killed that… that _orangutan_ in this building, she would be the prime suspect… It would have to be done discreetly… discreetly…

Setting the vase back down on the tabletop, Rukia reached over to the pile of papers and brought them with her to her desk. All the while, the plan to extinguish the boss was running through her scrambled mind, _'maybe if I drench him in gasoline and light him on fire…' _Sitting down in her overtly squishy chair. She mewled in pleasure as her body sunk down into its leathery softness, every muscle relaxing and melting into its comfy embrace. She always loved this chair; whenever her nerves were shot, it did a miraculous job of soothing her.

Breathing in and out, slowly and deeply, Rukia started to read over the paperwork in front of her, _'or maybe I could set wild baboons on him…' _She gave a small laugh that, to a sane person, would've been hysterical and slightlymaniacal… _just_ _slightly…_

'_No… he would probably be able to talk with them. Begging with them to spare his feeble life…'_ The thought drew another small giggle from the woman.

"… Kia-chan, are you… alright?"

The petite figure jumped up from her chair and stared wide-eyed at the office door, hand clutching at her startled heart, "Rangiku! Don't scare me like that!" The tall, busty figure stepped into the office and clicked the door shut behind her, "I knocked but you didn't answer."

The strawberry blonde employee sashayed her way over to Rukia's side, humming softly under her breath and walking with a little more sway in the hips than usual. Rukia's eyes narrowed as she analyzed her friend's face; her glossed lip was two shades lighter than usual, the black eyeliner was slightly thicker and there was a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks from the blush.

Oh yeah, she had _so_ gotten laid last night.

"What's with the sour look, Kia-chan?" The soft humming was still present and it somewhat calmed Rukia. She set the paper down and sighed, it seemed as though work was not going to get done today… Her friend was good at her job; there were no doubts about that, but Matsumoto Rangiku was also a _loud _distraction. Additionally she had a long-running history of trying to set her up on blind dates every time she walked through the door.

"What did you imagine this time?" Rangiku walked over to the coffee, sugar and cream and started to play witch cauldron with the ingredients.

Rukia gave a small pout, "lighting him on fire…"

The metal spoon was set down on the tray with a small clink, the smell of caffeine wafted closer to Rukia as Rangiku walked back over to the desk, her high heels clicking with the floor with each step, and set it in front of her "you already thought of that one, what else was there?"

The aroma teased at her nose until she picked up the cup to bring it closer to her mouth, she took one long whiff "setting wild baboons on him…" and took a sip from the sweet addiction, reveling at the feeling of the hot sensation that spread throughout her body –now _that_ was soothing. Rangiku shook her head in disapproval; her strawberry blonde curls creating soft waves around her thin, pale face and took out her own pile of paperwork, "sometimes, I don't understand what you're thinking, Kia-chan."

Rukia set the cup down and gave her friend a skeptical stare with eyebrow raised and all, "what do you mean?"

Smoky blue eyes shifted from the paper and fell on Rukia's face, exhibiting its own look of doubt. Rangiku slammed her hands on the desk and shoved her face right in front of the raven-haired beauty. Surely her friend wasn't _that_ naïve. Rukia's brow twitched when her friend's fragrance torrentially assaulted her nose; as the pair of blue eyes inched closer, Rukia worried that her gargantuan… _udders _would fall out of their clothing. Rangiku wanted to groan and rip her well-curled hair out, the girl had _no idea_ of what was happening around her, "Rukia! That man is such a catch, _he likes you," _she emphasized, "and you want to drive him away with _baboons?! Are you insane?!"_

Rukia had to admit, when Rangiku put it like that, she could kind of feel the sincerity… then she let out an unladylike scoff, "he's a womanizer, it's what he was born to do."

"He's a _gorgeous_ womanizer."

"He's my boss."

"Which means you can do office role-plays!" Rukia stared up at Rangiku, who only held a grin – a smug, lecherous grin. And like that Rukia just stared at her friend until the grin on her lips dropped into a pout, "Kia-chan," the consonant was drawn out in a sickly, girly voice and Rukia felt the dull throbbing of a migraine returning, "have you never noticed how he _looks_ at you?" To think back, there were times when Rukia caught him staring at her. It wasn't shown too often, or for too long, but she shuddered every time she saw that look reflected in his eyes. It was a kind of chilling gaze he had, as if he was… hungry for something.

Rangiku gave a sigh at her friend's stubbornness, "sooner or later, Kia-chan, you'll fall for him. And you'll fall _hard_."

Rukia begged to differ.

The sudden ringing of the telephone crackled through the casual atmosphere. Picking up the receiver, Rukia mentally cringed when a sickeningly sugarcoated voice sounded through the earpiece, "Rukia-chan," the suffix was drawn out oh so slightly, "I just realized that I forgot my paperwork at your office, it's in a blue folder, bring it down with a cup of coffee. Thanks."

_Click._

_Doot._

_Doot._

_Doot._

Calmly placing down the phone, Rukia chewed on her tongue and glanced around for the offending blue binder. She zeroed in on it resting innocently next to the vase that had nearly become a projectile weapon, _'cunning bastard'._

Getting out from her warm chair, she made her way around her table and stomped towards the folder, "I'll be back" striding swiftly to the door, Rukia halted in front of it before turning back, "I'm taking this with me," she grabbed the cup of steaming coffee from Rangiku's well manicured hands and exited the room, ignoring the irritated whining that swept after her.

Heels clicking against the timber floors, Rukia clutched the plastic folder closer to her as his voice started resonating around her head again.

It wasn't like she was actually considering it or anything; it hadn't even been an hour since he had offered it.

But a handsome, alluring, well-built man, _'who looked absolutely fine in a suit,'_ did technically just propose to her… it wasn't her fault that her mind started drifting off into Lala Land to visualize what it would be like to live with him. Rukia mentally listed all the pros and cons of having Kurosaki Ichigo as any sort of a nuptial partner.

Firstly, he was eye candy at its finest. She _admitted_ this.

Tall and lean, but beefy enough to give him a solid build, it was as if the Greek Gods had personally sculpted each muscle to its perfection. He always wore form-fitting suits that outlined every dip and bulge of his arms, purposely making it painstakingly obvious that he had a good body. His lips were always set in a frown or a boyishly rebellious smirk. Hands had a strong grip, always warm, and had a habit of running through full, thick orange locks; something that even Rukia had the urge to do at times of rare truce and peace.

It was a rather violent clash, she thought, with her inky tresses and practically all other physical aspects between them. Even his eyes were on the other end of the color spectrum. In normal, office lighting, they were a stunning shade of amber. It was out in the sun where she would always catch herself just _staring_ into his irises, looking into those delicate chocolate tones mixed in with gold honey.

It left her breathless.

Secondly, he was good at what he did.

Rukia scoffed; _'apart from all that womanizing he does around the building and across the entire damn country…'_ The man was a pain in the ass. A tormentor of the soul. Satan's offspring. He smirked, winked and flirted with anything that had breasts. But, when he had a job to do, he did it well and meticulously. A bit brash at times, and not to mention, on several occasions he had completely disregarded the law in order to get what his company wanted.

He was a stupid risk taker who refused to be fazed by authority and made hell of a lot more work for her.

More work meant overtime shifts.

Overtime shifts usually steered into night shifts.

Which ultimately lead to many nights spent alone.

With him.

In all his conceited, Casanova glory.

And…

That was about it…

Rukia despised any and every other aspect he possessed.

So basically, marrying him would give her absolutely no merit and would only result to an early death.

'_Yet that bastard's having fun toying with me like this,'_ She gave a sigh; she had been doing that quite frequently after she started working under Ichigo. Keeping an eye out for him completely drained the energy out of her life every time Rukia went home after work. Glancing down at the cup of steaming coffee in her right and the folder in her left, she felt more like his mother than anything, "good morning, Rukia-san…"

Rukia closed her eyes and counted to three to compose her self. Turning around at the sound of the cheerfully strained voice, her apathetic gaze fell on the young woman. She had a familiar shade of long, reddish-orange hair, gleaming gray eyes, a slim physique, and had a pair of breasts that came second only to Rangiku's magnitude. Gaze narrowed a bit when she noticed the woman's stiff posture and the noticeable tenseness in her jaw, "morning, Inoue-san."

"Kurosaki-san told me to expect you. I could take it in for you if you wish."

The petite woman stayed rooted in her position,_ 'I bet you'd like that, you psychotic fan-girl…'_ she bit back a small snort from escaping through her lipsand instead, gave a twitchy smile, "it's quite alright." Looking back, Rukia stared at the large wooden door in front of her, eyeing the 'Kurosaki Ichigo' nameplate that was stuck on the timber, "Kurosaki-san, I have the documents and your coffee."

Silence replied to her.

She felt a vein pulse in her temple, "_Kurosaki-san…"_ she was almost seething with annoyance, especially at the fact that she could feel his secretary boring holes at the back of her head "I have your paperwork and _godamn coffee_…" The tip of her black shoe connected softly with the door, "open up before I break this door down." He could hear her; even her quiet muttering at the end, she had no doubts about it, fool was just playing hard to get.

Her irritation calmed down somewhat when the door opened to reveal his smirking face, "sometimes, I already feel as if we're married. With you bringing me a nice cup of coffee in the morning like this." From her peripheral vision, Rukia saw the long, orange head of hair pipe up at the remark but paid no heed to his comment and made her way into the office. A light scent of spring wafted to her nose - it smelt like him. Hearing the faint click of the door, she walked up and placed the cup and papers on his black, steel desk. Everything else in the room, however, was blue –royal blue, sky blue, cobalt blue and any other shade of blue that she hadn't known existed until stepping into this… this prison, "you requested for it, sir."

"I also requested for your hand, soon-to-be Kurosaki Rukia-san." She could almost feel his stupid grin in those words. Rukia took a deep breath and turned to face Ichigo, she was done with these shenanigans for one morning, "Kurosaki-san, please be serious now. You need to prepare for your presentation and attend a meeting with Claynee Futz Group at one. And next time, please refrain from contacting me for such trivial matters. You have a perfectly fine secretary." She saw the corner of his lip twitch up in his trademark smirk, "do I sense jealousy?"

'_Happy place,'_ Rukia closed her eyes and reminded herself sternly. '_Think of your happy place.'_

Ignoring his teasing little jab, Rukia walked past Ichigo and made her way to the door, heels clicking faintly as she ambled across the tiled floor, "I'll leave you to your work then." Just as her slender fingers gripped around the steel handle, his voice stopped her in her tracks, "how about a date this afternoon? At five?" Rukia processed the words in her mind for a split second then preceded to trash the question all together, "have a nice day, Kurosaki-san." Just as she stepped out of the office, his thrilled shout escaped the room through the closing doors, "I'll be waiting!"

All the heads of the office workers who were within ear shot turned to rest their gaze on Rukia. Noticing the two different stares of amusement and jealousy, she felt the urge to curl up and bury her face in her hands. It also didn't help the fact that the busty secretary was giving her an icy glare over the desk, "are you alright, Rukia-san?" The woman asked brightly, her voice reaching new heights of super sonic bullshit.

"Just peachy." Inoue nodded to Rukia and gave a friendly beam. Although, no matter how large her smile was, how high up the corners of her lips went, or how bright her teeth were, there was no masking that tiny glint in her eyes. It was one that accompanied possessiveness and, dare she say it, jealousy. "I'm assuming all went well with Kurosaki-san?" She fought back the temptation to roll her eyes at the woman's persistence to continue the conversation. Her voice was beginning to drill another migraine into her head, "marvelously…" Rukia gritted out through tight jaws, "I'll be off now."

Without so much as turning around to give a more… polite farewell, Rukia walked back to her respective office. There was just something about that woman that made Rukia that much more edgier when she was around. Her not-so-secret obsession with the orangutan was also slightly eerie, _'I am ringed by fools_."

* * *

"By the way, Kia-chan…"

Lavender eyes traced along the paper to finish off the sentence before looking up, waiting patiently for Rangiku to finish her sentence, "where did you head off to in the morning?" Rukia grunted and shifted her eyes back onto the document in front of her. Why was the topic of Kurosaki Ichigo always popping up every time she was just about to forget it all? It was an otherwise great day with beautiful weather; she just desperately wanted to keep it that way, "by the way Ran-chan," the secretary gave an uneasy laugh, that sardonic attitude was rearing its ugly head again.

She's been badgering at her friend to get rid of that brashness for years now! Guys did _not_ find it attractive when their date was a human ice cube who had a sharpened dagger for a tongue; no matter how dolled up the petite woman was, "why are you working in my office?"

Rangiku gave a small pout of mock hurt, "don't be so stingy, work gets done faster when you're having fun." Silence settled in the room and she could feel the weight of Rukia judging her. Under her scrutinizing gaze, Rangiku grumbled back to her work.

Rukia sighed and looked back at her own document, _'impact on Tensho Corporation, by the rise in the 2012 stock markets, display a stable flow in revenue…'_

'… _impact on Tensho Corporation, by the rise in the 2012 stock markets, display a stable flow in revenue…'_

'… _impact on Tensho Corporation, by the rise in the 2012 stock markets, display a… didn't I just read this?'_

Out of frustration, Rukia slammed down the papers and mentally groaned when several escaped the perimeter of the desk and flew onto the floor. Resting her elbow on the desk, she cupped her forehead in her hand and took a glimpse at the clock, which read seven, _'that idiot's probably gone home…'_

"You have a date tonight?"

Rukia immediately straightened from her hunched position and cursed when she felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, "why would you think that?"

She was met with coy, husky-blue eyes and a mouth-splitting grin. If the corners of her lip drew up any further, Rukia swore she could dress her friend up with ears and a tail to go play Cheshire Cat in Wonderland. "Sweetie, please, we all know you would never have a reason to look at the clock when you so willingly stay behind to do work all the time."

Rangiku had a hawk's eye when it came to her love life, "who is it?"

Rukia averted her eyes and concentrated on the blank monitor situated at the corner of the desk. If it was anyone but Rangiku, it would've been obvious that the topic was a no-go. But… it _was_ Rangiku.

After a couple of minutes of silence, shoulders eventually slumped in defeat, "I'm supposed to meet Kurosaki Ichigo… at fi- Ah!" With an uncharacteristic yelp, the petite woman was violently pulled of her chair and on her feet. Standing motionless from the shock, she suddenly felt something around her shoulders and found it to be her navy blue blazer, "Rukia! Are you insane! It's seven!" Rangiku ran to her handbag and rummaged through its contents, God knew how hard it was to find anything in that mass void, "why the hell didn't you tell me this sooner!"

Rukia blinked at how feverishly Rangiku was searching through her bag; she slowly took the blazer off of her shoulders to place back on the hanger when Rangiku gave a sudden cry of triumph. Next thing she knew, the blazer was quickly readjusted on her shoulders with her arms through the sleeves and buttons done up to her chest. Rangiku gripped Rukia's chin and applied lip-gloss over the cream colored lipstick and quickly dashed on some light blush, "we don't have enough time to apply eyeliner!"

The busty woman held onto Rukia's wrist and hauled her out of the office, "wait! Rangiku! We still have work to do!"

Without even turning around or slowing down, Rangiku made her way down the corridor towards the doors of the enormous building. Making turns right and left, Rukia came to wonder if their building was always such a labyrinth, "just leave that to me!"

Rukia scowled and started to put up more of a fight against her friend, "stop joking around. The company is going to gain a lot of profit from the deal we're preparing! I need to-"

"Rukia," Rangiku interrupted her, "the past times when you always told me that the suitors I matched you with, were _inefficient_ in one way or another, I always left it at that and accepted your decisions."

Said woman scoffed, "only after you complained about a good hour or so, repeating how crazy I was for rejecting them."

The busty figure continued to pull Rukia towards the nearest lift, not even making an indication that she had heard the futile counter argument, "but this time, you have seriously lost it! Completely insane!"

And perhaps, Rukia _was_ going insane.

Insane at the fact that her friend _refused _to drop the issue, "Rangiku, I'm sure he's already gone home!"

They hastily made their way into the brightly lit elevator. It was only when the bell chimed and doors slid closed that Rangiku let go of Rukia's wrists, "Rukia, exactly what is the reason that stops you from at least giving him a chance?"

If it were any other question asked by Rangiku, in any _other _tone, Rukia would've managed to come up with a witty remark on the spot to rebuke. Looking at her friend's stern face, all the arguments she had prepared at the back of her mind disintegrated and all Rukia found herself doing was staring. Sighing, Rukia found her voice again, "Rangiku, he…he's my _boss_. A womanizer. An orange-haired idiot that makes my work life a living hell. I can't see him offering me anything that would make me happy. And you know I'm not talking about money or luxuries."

The corner of Rangiku's lips slightly pulled down in a disapproving frown, "Rukia, I don't know why… but I really, _really _think you should go for it…"

The shorter woman gave a strangled whine, "Rangiku!-"

Suddenly the lift came to a halt and the doors slid open. Rangiku quickly grabbed onto Rukia's wrists and made her way to the building's entrance, "if he's there, Kia-chan, you're buying me dinner."

A frown set between Rukia's eyebrows, "this is getting ridiculo-"

Just as they stepped through the glass doors, Rukia bumped into Rangiku's back and gave a sound of disapproval, "why'dyu stop so suddenly?" When her friend stayed silent, Rukia tilted her left to see what the problem was. Eyes widened when they saw a familiar orange head of hair sitting on the metal benches at the side of the building's entrance. Beside her, Rangiku whispered through the corner of her lips, "you owe me dinner."

Rukia didn't even hear her.

The idiot had really waited.

Ichigo lifted his head when he heard the sound of footsteps. Seeing the two women in front of him, his amber eyes immediately fell on Rukia's face, "I was wondering how long you were going to keep me waiting, you crazy midget." Mouth slightly agape in bewilderment, Rukia continued to stare at him, _'why did he wait?'_

Rangiku gave a small bow; despite working in the same building, their jobs were usually unrelated with each other, so there really wasn't much of a reason for her to look for him. It was rare for her to see the boss of Tensho Corporation like this and my, he really was _quite_ a catch, "I apologize for her delay, she sometimes does stupid things like this."

Ichigo got up from the bench and walked over to the two workers, his eyes never leaving Rukia's stupefied face, "it's alright…" he allowed himself to give Rangiku a look akin to appreciation, "I kind of expected something like this." Rangiku in turn gave a small smile of her own before propelling Rukia in front of Ichigo. Making her way back to the building, she gave a departing wave to the two; "take care of her for me, Boss-san! Have fun, Kia-chan!"

After Rangiku disappeared into the building, Ichigo gave a small humored grin whilst waving his hand in front of Rukia's face. Snapping out of her stupor at the enthusiastic flapping in front of her eyes, her brows dipped into a frown, "why did you wait?"

The grin fell into a pout and with all the adorability he could muster in his body, amber eyes upgraded to the 'puppy-dog' sparkle. He gave a small sniff and inwardly grinned when he could see the tiniest speck of worry ignite in her eyes, "you make me wait in the cold for two hours and that's all you can say to me? I'd day that's quite harsh of you, Rukia-chan."

Ignoring his informal use of her name, guilt immediately raked over Rukia's mind. She didn't intend to leave him waiting like this, she just never assumed his date proposal was serious, let alone the idea that he would actually wait for her in this god forsaken weather. A gust of air breezed past the two, earning a shiver from the petite woman. The blazer was just too thin for chilly evenings like tonight. Ichigo noticed the slight tremble in her form and mentally gave a chuckle. For a woman who was hell-bent on making his work life as miserable as possible, she looked cute when she was vulnerable like this. He shrugged off his gray overcoat and placed it over Rukia's shoulders, biting back a laugh when he saw her practically sinking into it.

Feeling the warmth radiating from the coat, Rukia could feel herself blushing again and realized how much of a _man _the orange idiot was. She felt sheltered in the embrace of his overcoat but didn't want to overstep the professional boundaries that she had tried so hard to maintain. Clutching the clothing, she moved to take it off, "a little chilly air won't faze me, take your coat back." As the front opened up, air rushed to fill the empty space and managed to earn another shiver from Rukia.

Ichigo gave a sigh and held onto her hands, slightly frowning when he could feel how cold they were in his warm grip. Tightening the garment tighter against her body, he snaked his arms around her thin waist and brought the smaller woman closer to him in an engulfing embrace, "can you feel that?" he whispered in her ear, smirking as he saw them turn red.

Rukia, for the second time that day, felt like dying from a sudden blood rush to the face. "I'm a walking furnace, so don't worry about me or the little lines you've drawn between us. Not tonight." He let go and held onto her hand, walking her towards his car.

Whatever he had said after that was drowned out by the sound of her heart hammering in her ears.

Kurosaki Ichigo was a dangerous man.

He was too much of an overwhelming figure that had barged into her well-balanced, professional life. He was just too… enticing. As much as the pounding in her chest was due to his lack of awareness concerning personal space, Rukia was also nervous at the thought of how high this man could take her before crashing her to the ground.

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_To be continued…_

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**I do not own Bleach. Honors to go Kubo… I wonder if I really have to put this in every chapter though… is it necessary?**

**I had this chapter for MONTHS now, but only had the will to upload it now. Just to warm readers that I am quite a slow updater (and I apologize, I do try my best). And I'm trying to stay ahead of schedule.**

**I know I have two other stories, but I've been fixated on this plot bunny for months now and I thought, "heck, why the hell not?" and uploaded it xD.**

**I think there is a fair difference in the way I write as compared to my 'Oh, Kami-Sama!' And 'To Turn Back Time' fanfics. I hope it's alright though.**

**Read. Smile. Review. **

**Regards,**

**M.**


	2. Chapter 2

_(Recap)_

_Kurosaki Ichigo was a dangerous man. _

_He was too much of an overwhelming figure that had barged into her well-balanced, professional life. He was just too… enticing. As much as the pounding in her chest was due to his lack of awareness concerning personal space, Rukia was also nervous at the thought of how high this man could take her before dropping her to the ground._

* * *

As a long time friend of an overly _passionate_ cupid with humongous breasts, Rukia became a victim –a _specimen_- of outlandish matchmaking experiments that were supposedly, she quoted, _"good for your love life, Kia-chan!"_

Rukia officially labeled them in two categories.

Firstly, the vacuous imbeciles. They were femininely attractive, wealthy, had egos the size of Asia and only seemed to know three ways of starting off a conversation – 'I', 'me' or 'my'. Usually comprising of higher-class men who got roped into meeting up with her, Rukia personally thought they only attended because it meant that one more person knew of how fabulous their golden toilets were. As if to flaunt their fortune even further, the meeting places usually took place at big-name restaurants that charged ten dollars for a glass of water, and a name in the reservation's list to get a seat next to even more obnoxiously, rich bastards. The smell of money and arrogance practically radiated off of their form in a manner that was everything but pleasant, in any sense of the word.

And secondly, the unfortunate souls. They were the more boyishly handsome ones who didn't really seem to have much of a say in their…contribution; Rukia assumed that Rangiku somehow forced them to comply to the blind dates… perhaps threatened their masculinity in some way. She noticed that her friend was a cunning fiend at that. Most of them were modest and pleasant, some even shy. It was cute, but Rukia just couldn't ever imagine herself with any of them.

She endured through the same grueling process at least twice a week, every week, for the past six months. By now, nothing could faze her. She had met up with some of the most prominent leaders in the market and even drank tea with diamond-studded teabags! Godamnit, she was pampered with money spent like loose change by some of them! And it wasn't as if they weren't attractive or anything, they were more than gifted. Rukia was used to all this, so why the hell was she so nervous?!

"You're staring, Rukia." Her stomach flipped at his deep voice. Feeling herself blushing, Rukia dropped her eyes back on her food.

Pancakes.

She was certain, for a man as prestigious and blue-blooded as Kurosaki Ichigo, something like pancakes probably wasn't even considered as food to him.

It was so easy to picture. The dinning room would've been as big as a ballroom with red silk curtains draped over large-paned windows, and a crystal chandelier looking over the vicinity –engulfing the area of the room in the brightest of lights. In the middle, on top of a red rug imported from France, the white, antique dining table would have a total of fourteen matching chairs. And at the end of the table, with two maids by his side like faithful dogs, Kurosaki-bocchama would've had a lavishing dinner – always made too much for him to eat. Feet barely touching the floor, his hands would skillfully work with the four different spoons, forks and knives, his eyes looking down only at his fine China-plate. Back straightened and stiff, the child, who should've been out playing with friends, would've already begun to bear the expectations of society on his small shoulders.

But he had taken her out for _pancakes._

A small smile stretched on her lips. It was so _simple._

"Are you thinking about me?"

Rukia slowly looked up to see intense amber eyes locked onto hers, quickly stuffing a slice of pancake in her mouth to hide the broadening smile, her gaze shifted to the waiter, who was setting down a tall glass of coke to a table near theirs, "idiot."

Ichigo saw her eyes concentrating on the person behind him and felt a small sense of irritation coursing through his blood, staring at the stack on her plate; he reached over and stabbed through two pancakes to bring it over to his, not caring if a sticky syrup trail dripped between their dishes as clear evidence of his actions, "hey! Eat your own food!"

Good. She was looking at him again.

Making sure to maintain eye contact, Ichigo slightly leaned in closer to her, "don't look at somebody else when I'm here."

Rukia stopped and lifted her eyebrow, only giving him an incredulous stare, "don't misunderstand, Kurosaki-san, we're not in any position to tell each other off for _looking _at somebody else."

There was a small pout, "I thought we were going to get married?"

Annoyance flooded back, "we're not even dating!"

"You don't want to marry me? Wasn't this our first date?"

Rukia huffed in disbelief, "we are_ not_ dating, and of course I won't want to marry you. I like to get to know a person before I decide to 'marry' them or not," she said mentally cursing at herself. She was sitting in the most inconvenient seat in the store right now, the furthest from the exit, the door, and the only one closest to her being the window. And the window was a lot closer to Ichigo, so even if she tried to reach for it, he would probably grab her before she even opened it.

A sly grin stretched on Ichigo's face, "then let's get to know each other."

Veins twitched and a tight smile twisted across Rukia's lips, "you seem to misunderstand me, Kurosaki Ichigo," the words came out strained, "I have no interest in starting any sort of relationship with you."

He gave an amused snort at this, "I know. I heard you the first time..."

The man was infuriating -

"…so my plan is to coax you until you fall in love with me."

- and hardheaded.

"You can't just _force_ someone to like you!"

Amber stared at her questionably and Rukia simply glared. He had the audacity to reflect an expression of complete innocence and unawareness at her distress, "it wasn't illegal last time I checked."

_The nerve!_

It was like running around in an endless circle when talking to him, "Kurosaki-san," Ichigo moped at the formal use of his surname and requested for her to call him by his first, a plea immediately shot down without a second of hesitation, "do you always take your first dates to have _pancakes_?" Rukia really only asked because she didn't have anything else to talk about. After all, she was trying _desperately hard_ not to divulge too much into his life.

Ichigo simply continued to eat the pancake. For a man of such lean build, he possessed a black void for a stomach, "no, this is the first time."

A vein twitched, "oh?" Rukia lightly gritted her teeth at the unpleasant implications of his confession.

"I usually treated all the other girls to some steak dinner," for some reason, she felt as if she was being treated at the bottom of his notorious playboy chain, '_as if pancakes are just good enough for me, huh?' _Rukia prompted to stab into her food. Ichigo saw the tense outline of her hand and pursed his lips before they managed to burst into an elated grin; she was just so easy to read, "I wouldn't have been interested in you if you were someone so easily swayed by money and position."

Rukia stopped trying to cut through the plate and looked up at her boss, who placed his fork down, "how should I say this…" Ichigo averted his gaze to the window, managing to slightly irritate Rukia, _'oh, so now he acts shy?!'_

His lips formed into a small smile and Rukia noticed that it wasn't his usual brazen grin or that insufferable smirk, "you're the first person I've honestly considered _being_ with."

Mouth opening and closing, Rukia managed to impersonate a fish out of water impressively well.

What the hell could she say to that?

Drawing out a sigh, she put her own fork down and looked at Ichigo. If… and majorly stressing _if…_ the man was serious in any sense, the least she could do was take it sincerely, "Kurosaki-san, I'm flattered that you…_ fancy _me… but please, look at all the prospects, I-I dream about you getting hit by a bus every morning for goodness sake! We don't know… we don't _like _each other enough to date, let alone get _married_. And a relationship isn't this-this _easy_." She saw him turning back to face her, "Kurosaki-san, what you're proposing is a fairytale…_ it just doesn't exist_."

Ichigo stayed silent at her answer, a brow raised in clear amusement, "I'm not offering a fairytale, I'm too stubborn and hot-tempered for that. It's a strange turn of events, even for me… I never imagined that I'd consider marrying a devil incarnate that looks more like a kid than a woman," Rukia's brow gave a violent twitch, and here she was trying to approach it so professionally too, "how you interpret my actions is entirely up to you, frankly, you're as stubborn as me so I know I won't get through to you that easily… plus…"

The fork clanked against the plate again and the final stack of pancake was already being bitten into, "you're cute when you act serious, just enjoy the pancakes, baka."

_Brainless idiot._

Rukia swore to God… she would _kill _this man.

Feeling blood rushing to her face, Rukia couldn't hear anything above the drumming in her ears. She felt so… so _humiliated _for taking him seriously! "You know what, I don't even need a weapon, I can just kill you with my chair!"

"Such a violent woman," Ichigo gingerly finished his food and sipped at his cup of coffee, "I hope it doesn't rub off on my sisters. That'd be a real pain."

Rukia set down the knife she was hazardously swinging around and stared at the man, "you have siblings?"

Ichigo passed her a bizarre glance, "why do you sound so surprised?"

Honestly? She didn't really know either. To say she was surprised was a falsely assumed judgment – she was simply taken-back. An image of mini Ichigo's in a pink dress with long, fiery hair and trademark smirk flashed across her mind, "those poor girls…"

Eye twitched, "what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

The raven-haired colleague wasn't paying attention. Rukia couldn't even begin to imagine the agony of living and _growing up _with this oversized monkey in the house. Mental scenarios of sibling interaction conjured from her imagination, wrongfully exaggerated beyond the scope of her own creativity, "I pray for mercy on their souls."

"Well aren't you just hilarious."

Rukia gave a small, mocking smile, "thank you, I do try."

"So, do you have any?" Bringing her cup of coffee up to her lips, Rukia lifted a brow at his question, "I meant siblings, do you have any siblings?"

Ichigo noticed something flash in her expression, disappearing as fast as it appeared. Had he just stepped over the line?

Slender fingers interlaced and gripped around the cup, placing it down on the table without taking a sip from it, "I used to. An older sister." Rukia stared into empty space, a small smile slowly stretching on her lips as she reminisced.

Brows slightly furrowed in dejection. Ichigo remembered now, how Rukia's resume paper from years back had caught his eyes out of the piles of hundreds. _No parents listed. No siblings listed. _

"She must've been beautiful," Ichigo gave a small smile of his own as Rukia's gaze focused back on him. He knew that look. Knew it all too well. It was an expression he had seen many times on the faces of his own siblings. Even his old man bore it from time to time when he thought he wasn't looking.

_The look of having lost a loved one._

Rukia stared into amber eyes. Something about him was different. His gaze, his expression, the little smile on his lips. There was no pity, no word of apology fabricated through a façade of false sincerity. The small smile drew bigger into a grin, "the nicest… she was the nicest person I ever knew."

Ichigo smirked at her, "I guess we'll have to formally greet her together soon."

"Hey, hey!" Rukia saw the familiar gaze of mirth in his amber eyes, the one that always ignited passionately whenever he was about to do something risky or downright stupid, "don't jump ahead of yourself! We're not going to formally greet _anyone_."

The man across her playfully shrugged and took the cup of coffee closer to his lips in an attempt to hide his smirk, "whatever you say, midget."

She felt like burying her face into her hands and crying. The mood had shifted so many times between the two over the last couple of hours; Rukia couldn't believe how easily the monkey was leading her on into the conversation. She gave a small groan, "Kurosaki Ichigo, you are an infuriating man."

The amusement in his eyes refused to settle down, shining only brighter as they analyzed Rukia's face, "I can assure you, there are other parts of me you willfind _charming_."

No double entendre intended… at least Rukia hoped not…

Before any more the mental image of her half-naked boss could manifest, Rukia shook her head feverously and tried to concentrate on the initial issue at hand, "well, Kurosaki-san-"

"Call me Ichigo."

Rukia tightly pursed her lips, "fine. _Ichigo-san_-"

"Now try Ichi-baby."

A frustrated sigh escaped, "I swear, even if we did end up as spouses for god knows what reason, I would probably murder you during our honeymoon."

Ichigo leant slightly back on his chair, "I'm surprised you would even wait that long to murder me," he cupped his chin as if he was sincerely pondering the limits of Rukia's temper, "I had suspected that you'd at least make it to the altar before snapping."

With violet eyes set in a deadpan gaze, Rukia replied without even skipping a beat, "that can be arranged…"

To her surprise, Ichigo gave an amused laugh, "now that I think about it, my younger sister Karin always told me that I needed a wife who wasn't scared to murder me when the occasion arises."

His laugh, Rukia thought… _wasn't so completely unpleasant…_

"I guess from your perspective, it _is _a lot to take on board," Ichigo started to neatly stack up the empty plates, "but just _think _about it, alright? You don't have to give me an answer now, but my offer still stands_, Mrs. Kurosaki Rukia-chan_."

Not really having anything snarky to say at his _seemingly _sincere words, Rukia simply chose to give a small nod as they stood up and headed to the exit, "also, I'll need to have your number if I'm planning on coaxing you."

Rukia scoffed at how he made it seem like the most normal-thing to do, "don't think so, Kurosaki, we're not that far gone yet."

Unknownst to her, a smirk bloomed on Ichigo's face at her reply, _'not that far gone __**yet**__... she says'_

"You know, don't you think it'd be nice to put this thing on trial or something," the pair stepped out from the warmth of the pancake parlor with a slight jingle of the door's bell, feeling the cold wind rush past her, Rukia shuddered and took a sharp intake of breath, "put what on trial?" In the same breath, she silently cursed the godforsaken weather before more cold gusts of wind blew towards her.

Ichigo gave a small tsk of disapproval before reaching for his coat that was in her hands. Draping it over her trembling shoulders, he tightly fastened the garment around her small figure, mentally smiling when she didn't resist the second time around, "well you seem to think that you don't like me-"

"_I don't._"

"-so I was thinking something like a trial period. Live with me, or _date me _as you so strongly stress, for a certain time, then decide whether you want to take me up on my offer." Ichigo lifted an eyebrow in amusement when he noticed the petite woman standing _slightly _morecloser to him than she had been before, "I reckon it'd be fun."

Fighting the smile that was threatening to tug at her lips, Rukia reluctantly pulled the coat closer to her and almost, _almost _mewled at how warm it was, "you're way in over your head, Kurosaki."

"Aw, come on! We've had our first date now, you can at least call me Ichi-baby!"

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_To be continued…_

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**Read. Smile. Review.**

**Thank you for such positive reviews dear readers!  
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**Regards,**

**M.**


	3. Chapter 3

_(Recap)_

_Ichigo gave a small tsk of disapproval before reaching for his coat that was in her hands. Draping it over her trembling shoulders, he tightly fastened the garment around her small figure, mentally smiling when she didn't resist the second time around, "well you seem to think that you don't like me-"_

"_I don't."_

"_-so I was thinking something like a trial period. Live with me, or date me as you so strongly stress, for a certain time, then decide whether you want to take me up on my offer." Ichigo lifted an eyebrow in amusement when he noticed the petite woman standing slightly more closer to him than she had been before, "I reckon it'd be fun."_

_Fighting the smile that was threatening to tug at her lips, Rukia reluctantly pulled the coat closer to her and almost, almost mewled at how warm it was, "you're way in over your head, Kurosaki."_

"_Aw, come on! We've had our first date now, you can at least call me Ichi-baby!"_

* * *

The second Rukia walked into the front lobby of Tensho Corp. she immediately felt the glances of her colleagues from the corner of her eyes. Suspicious by the sudden influx of attention she was getting, as discreetly as they attempted to appear, she cursed under her breath when she recalled how Kurosaki Ichigo technically announced their little meet up to the whole office floor. Honestly, and quite sadly, Rukia was impressed at how word managed to spread so quickly, _'if this company is good at something other than hiring nosy people, it's the fact that nothing stays hidden for long… if at all…' _She kept her head held high as she made her way stiffly to the elevator and pushed the button for the floor of her office.

Never to disappoint, she continued to get those curiously amused gazes from everybody on the floor as she made her way to her office. Some were daring enough to noticeably switch their eyes from her to the end of the corridor, where Ichigo's office was situated, with a sly twist of the lips. Slowly beginning to feel uncomfortable by the weight of their gazes, Rukia felt irritated at the fact that she was even bothered in the first place. It wasn't like anything grand happened! "Why is everyone gawking at me like owls! Get back to work!"

A little hesitantly, with the occasional grumble from here and there, the workers looked down at their desk to continue their task.

Shaking her head and opening the door, Rukia was met with another fatal obstacle that she initially hadn't calculated, "Kia-chan!"

_Rangiku_.

Bitterly walking in and closing the door behind her, Rukia wondered if she would get anything done today, "Rukia, is that Kurosaki-san's _coat _you're holding?"

Frozen in surprise, amethyst eyes trailed down to the mass of material hanging innocently in her left arm. There were many instances in her life where Rukia truly felt that a slap to the head was necessary at some of the careless mistakes she had made. Feeling the urge to smack her forehead, she instead settled for a face palm to hide her embarrassment, _'no wonder the whole building was ogling me. Great job, Rukia.'_

Rangiku impatiently got up form her seat at the couch and walked over to Rukia. Taking the article of clothing from her arms, she gently draped it on a hanger next to them before suddenly pivoting to face the shorter woman, "Never mind _that_. How could you go on a date with our gorgeous boss and _not _call me up to tell me the details?!"

After a whirlwind of events, Rukia stayed silent to recollect her lost dignity and started to gather up some paperwork on the desk, "_Kia-chan_…"

She flinched at how her name was unbelievably drawn out, sugar-coated with honey like a child pestering a mother for a little puppy. The bustier woman hovered behind her more petite-framed friend; trying desperately to hear some juicy details on what kind of a man their boss was outside of work, "don't forget that I was the one who applied that lip gloss for you!" Rukia mentally rolled her eyes; Rangiku was scraping the bottom of the barrel with her excuse.

Thinking about it now, it was actually all Rangiku's fault… if she hadn't been so intent in meddling with her love life, Rukia wouldn't be suffering from migraine right now…

Shuffling the pile of papers in her hands, Rukia sat down at her desk and felt a vein finally twitch when Rangiku started to jump from her seat across the room, "will you stop _jumping!_"

Rangiku, though irritated at her friend's lack of enthusiasm to share, was smiling regardless and was starting to feel her mouth go numb at how big she was grinning, "I'm not." _She still was._

From time to time, a small squeal escaped that managed to critically stab at Rukia's bubble of concentration and peace. Not even her cushioned chair was soothing her irritation. Sighing loudly, Rukia set down the paperwork in her hands haphazardly onto the desk, "alright, then stop _fidgeting _and maybe I'll spill."

Immediate silence followed.

Judging by the peace, Rukia wasn't even sure if her friend was _breathing._

"Well… where should I star-"

"Did you go to his place afterwards?"

A look of pure horror flashed across Rukia's face at Rangiku's sly accusation. Of all the things to ask and expect! "Wha- of course not!"

At the reply, Rangiku's own face contorted into an expression of absolute _disbelief_ at how tactless her friend was. A person of sane mind doesn't just pass an offer like _Kurosaki Ichigo! _If it were anyone else, Rangiku would've understood. But this was Kurosaki-godamn-Ichigo! The two were already practically a couple in the building with all the fighting and flirting they did! Rangiku felt the urge to walk over to Rukia and shake some damn sense into the girl! "Then what the _hell _did you do?"

"You make it sound as if I'm some whore," Rukia raised a skeptical brow at how her friend was making a mountain out of a molehill.

"But Rukia-chan, this is Kurosaki Ichigo we're talking about!" As a clearly concerned and loving friend, Rangiku didn't want to see Rukia spending her nights alone for the rest of her life, but the fact that she was completely unfazed by her impending isolation tempted Rangiku to tear out her hair from time to time, "I even spent yesterday night drawing up similarities you both have!"

Rukia stared at her friend in disbelief, "weren't you supposed to be working on the contract yesterday night? _Like you insisted_?"

There was a cross between a cough and a laugh from her, "I had to pull an all-nighter for that one."

Sighing, Rukia rested her face in her hands on the desk. Despite being such a distracting individual, Rangiku made sure that work got done when necessary, that in itself made her a reliable colleague, "I can't say I know Kurosaki-san too well, but I hear things around the office."

Rukia mentally rolled her eyes, _'who the hell hasn't.'_

Scanning the paper she had in front of her, Rangiku gave a small smile as she looked up at Rukia's expressionless face, "well, I eventually summed it up to: you guys are uncannily similar in the sense that you're both callous and ambitious… especially when you have something you want."

Firstly, that was a completely _stupid _deduction and secondly, _no they bloody weren't!_

"To put it simply, you're both assholes that look hot in suits and are highly respectable in what you do."

Rukia felt… _flabbergasted_. And she had _never _been in a situation where she felt it necessary to use that terminology, "I am not!"

"You are too, babe."

"Don't you start with me!"

"Rukia-chan, you are remarkably ambitious when you have a determined goal and use any means necessary to get to it. You callously disregard the problems of others if you deem it to be meritless—"

"_No_ I—"

Rangiku cut her off with a sarcastic scoff, "remember the time you made me go to work with a hangover?"

There was a splutter, "when the hell have I _ever_-"

"_I_…" Rangiku slightly elevated her voice to rebuke Rukia's argument, "…was _crying _to you because Gin was being a jerk. You and I talked all night over some sake; so much so that I was piss-drunk afterwards… _then_, waking up from a bloody hangover, I, believing that you were a person with a shred of mercy, asked if I could stay home and you told me…" Rangiku cleared her throat. "A little hangover won't kill you, we have work to do.'"

Rukia only huffed at her friend and said nothing more.

Rangiku reasoned, "now tell me, dear friend, what _did _you do if you didn't glomp his sexy ass."

Rukia sighed irritably, "seriously, nothing spectacular happened… at least nothing that _you're _thinking about," recollecting the papers in her hands, Rukia started skim her eyes along the lined words, registering none of them in her mind in reality, "we just had pancakes and… _talked_."

"_You just **talked**? What the hell, Rukia! This is when you're supposed to flash him your legs and lure him into your web! Kinky sex, girl! Kinky sex! "_

…was what Rukia expected to hear. Instead, she got silence.

Which, coming from Rangiku on the matter of a 'date'… _her_ 'date', was slightly worrying.

Looking up from her file, Rukia stared at the blonde woman sitting across the room and felt unsettled when she just… _stared back_, "pan…cakes…" squirming in her seat, Rukia couldn't bring herself to look away from the expression on her friend's face – _absolutely blank. _

A brow lifted on the vacantly beautiful face, "Mr. Gorgeous-Womanizer-Kurosaki-Ichigo took you to have _pancakes _on the first date… and… you're_ alright _withthat?"

Unexpectedly, yes she was. Rukia admitted to herself that she had felt downgraded at first. But Kurosaki… _Ichigo _had the ability of making things seem so… so _simple. __** I wouldn't have been interested in you if you were someone so easily swayed by money and position… **_

Unknownst to Rukia, Rangiku wordlessly studied her friend's quiet expression from afar. Reminiscing into space with such a soft gaze in her eyes, excluding the times she'd lose herself thinking about Hisana, it was the first time Rangiku ever saw _that _kind of look before, "cute… so what did you talk about?"

"Nothing particularly interesting. We ended up talking about each other's siblings," Rangiku's brow rose in surprise as Rukia started to concentrate back on her work, _'Rukia already told him?'_

Rukia looked back up from her work and saw the visible lines of surprise etched in Rangiku's forehead, "don't worry, Ran-chan. It won't go any further than tomfoolery. You and I both know that the world isn't that easy."

"Sounds like you should be careful, Rukia. To have swayed you like this already, Kurosaki Ichigo must be a dangerous man."

Rukia sighed at the remark. Oh, indeed he was.

She didn't plan on advancing _any further _than what was necessary. Like moths to a flame, she had been drawn to the false sense of security surrounded by the warmth. However, she didn't want to chase after happiness that had no basis at the expense of her heart. Not this time. Not for somebody as… as _immature _as him.

'_Sorry, Kurosaki. Serious or not, you're just not worth it.'_

* * *

"_So?_"

Ichigo drummed his fingers on the black surface of his desk, a grin accompanying his ever-handsome face. Coming back from their little _date_, and even the morning after, Ichigo couldn't believe how elevated his moods were. He was definitely amused, "so what?"

Shuuhei rolled his eyes at the boss's play of ignorance; if anyone knew better of Kurosaki Ichigo's flirtatious endeavors, it was one Hisagi Shuuhei, and he was confident enough to assume that no one knew of the impressive number of well-sought after women crossed off on the ginger's list. To him, it didn't make sense that Ichigo would be pinning after Rukia; the woman was great at her job, but clearly, she wasn't anything like that girls Ichigo used to play with, "don't give me that, tell me what's with all this word going around 'bout you and Rukia."

"'_Rukia'?_" Unknownst to Ichigo, his eyes flashed a shade darker at how familiarly his friend was addressing his soon-to-be wife, "since when did you ever call her by her first name, Shuuhei."

The tattooed man bit back a scoff, "you're possessiveness is astounding, Kurosaki."

"Well, Shuuhei, apart from looking like a yankee, you have an impressive history of girls, would you blame me?" It was true; Ichigo noticed that there were girls who liked the whole yakuza-on-the-outside-but-teddy-bear-on-the-inside business that Shuuhei didn't even need to try to master. With tattoos and a _scar _decorating his rather roguishly handsome face, along with his rather lean, but well-built physique, Shuuhei was more often mistaken to be the company's alternative, _violent, _dispute resolver than an actual employee. However, he was more mature and stern than what his outward appearance let on, and the ladies seemed to _love _it.

Shuuhei looked at the man with a slight frown; he highly doubted that comparing the love lives of the two men were, in any way, sensible, "my relationships lasted more than simple one-night stands, Ichigo. You go through them like candy; I don't see what you're being so defensive about."

Shuuhei sighed and looked back down at the mass of papers sprawled around the table, "about half the building saw her coming in with your coat from yesterday, you can't say there's _nothing _going on."

There was no reply from Ichigo, "I advise that you pick anyone but her to play around with, Ichigo. She doesn't deserve you doing that to her."

By now, Ichigo would've come back with a playfully bawdy retort, but none did, and it incited Shuuhei to look up at him, "why aren't you saying any-"

_And he stopped._

Because, though none knew of Kurosaki Ichigo's flings as well as he did, it was the first time he had ever seen such an intense, solemn look in those amber eyes. Shuuhei for once, in all his years of knowing the troublesome man, had nothing to say, _'he was serious...'_

"You…you're not… joking… are you…" There was no crack of a smile, no lifting of the brows, no mischievous glint dancing in his eyes that would've suggested that he was anything but serious. And this troubled Shuuhei greatly, after countless one-night stands and shallow, materialistic relationships, he wondered if Ichigo even knew how to properly love another being who was not already related to him by blood.

"Shuuhei."

"Ichigo…" They had been together ever since high-school, and though Ichigo was a great friend, Shuuhei knew that as much as he loved women, he was also callous enough to hurt them without any regards. And Rukia, who he got to know during the years spent together as colleagues, just didn't deserve being some _plaything _to scratch Ichigo's little itch, "if you're going to play with her, then find someone else. _Don't touch her_."

In all honesty, Ichigo didn't know how to quite explain it to his friend that he was sincere in his actions. He couldn't blame the man for being cautious of him; he wasn't as ignorant as he played out to be. If one of his sister's were to date a man like himself, Ichigo would've opposed to it without a second thought. However, there was something else he wanted the answers to, "why are you being so cautious for her. You didn't seem to have a problem when I was with anyone else."

The other man hesitated for a moment, something that slightly bothered Ichigo – he couldn't let go of the thought of having any other man know Rukia closer than he did, even if that man was his best friend, "I was the one who guided her around the company system when she transferred from her original company. She's a good person who works hard in life."

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow at the revelation of new information, "she was transferred here?"

The deadpan expression looked more closer to menacing when it was Shuuhei who was wearing it, "Jesus, Ichigo, you looked at her damn profile!"

That he did, however, Ichigo never thought that he was looking at a transfer application. Unfortunately, there were some things that he disregarded when it was associated with her - _before_ she became the center of his little fixation; "I… wasn't really paying attention to her back then…"

'_Of course he wasn't,' _Shuuhei rolled his eyes and gingerly shook his head, "well, all I know is that she transferred from Kuchiki Inc.-"

"_The _Kuchiki Inc.? Are you sure?" Ichigo cut in, furrowing his eyebrows. She worked at Kuchiki Inc. and he was only finding out about it now? "I would've definitely picked up on something like _that _no matter how uninterested I was."

Kuchiki Inc. was one of the principle companies in the stock market, lead by the well renowned Kuchiki Byakuya. The company itself was around for several years now, only really beginning to excel when the current head stepped in to take the top seat in the house. In less than five years, the Kuchiki created one of the most powerful and _dangerous_ companies to vie against for the big dollars.

"I know, but her previous company isn't listed on her profile for reasons unknown. I only found out through Rangiku-san during one of our company parties."

Ichigo slowly nodded as he processed the information, "does she ever go out with you guys?"

"No," Shuuhei leaned back into the navy blue coach that was situated in the middle of the room, "she rarely attends them, and when she does, she usually leaves early."

"That would explain why I don't see her around," Shuuhei gave a small chuckle at Ichigo's soft remark, "with how busy you get brushing up on women, I highly doubt you would've noticed regardless of whether she was there or not."

Ichigo gave a small pout at his friend's lack of usefulness, "you're not taking me seriously, Shuuhei."

The string of chuckles died down, "are you?"

Ichigo rested his sun-kissed arm on the desk and cupped his face, "would I have taken her out for pancakes if I wasn't?"

"You took her out for _pancakes_?" Shuuhei gave in to the temptation of the epic face palm, "what a way to make a first impression, Kurosaki."

"That's exactly why I took her there. Money isn't going to impress her, I know that, and she isn't even interested in what I can offer her materialistically," Ichigo crossed his arms in front of him with something akin to a baffled expression on his face, "I mean, that little she-demon-midget tried to bite my head off when we first met!"

Shuuhei laughed at the play of events, "you know, she fantasizes about drenching you in gasoline and lighting you on fire."

A neat brow lifted at the amused statement, "well, she did mention that she imagined me getting hit by a bus… but gasoline? _Really_?"

Seeing him going through countless of women, Shuuhei found it satisfying deep down when Ichigo finally found some one to chase after, who was just as stubborn and _crazy _as he was, "the entire floor has a betting pool going on, you know."

"Oh really? On what?"

Shuuhei shook his head again in amusement; this was going to be one relationship worth looking forward to, "on how she might ever kill you when she finally snaps."

A sly smile cracked across Ichigo's face, "well, aren't you just sweet."

There was a chuckle from the other man, "yeah, I betted fifty on her throwing a vase at your head."

Honestly, Ichigo wouldn't have been surprised if it happened, "I can really feel your love."

"Now," Shuuhei looked back at the list of papers in his hands, "enough daydreaming, what's you're next course of action, Boss-Kurosaki?"

Ichigo traced his eyes along the red skyrocketing line on the graph in front of him, under the capitalized heading 'SUIGETSU CORP. GROSS PROFIT OF 2012', "how about we finally give a reply to Suigetsu Corporation's little invitation?"

"Whoa, Ichigo," Shuuhei looked at the smirk on Ichigo's face; he was going to do something _risky _again, "don't you think Aizen's company is a bit too dangerous to attack? Come on, that's too high of a goal, even for _you_."

"Well, with the little product switch they did with their dirty mole, I lost a fair share of profit this year. I wouldn't be Kurosaki Ichigo if I sat here and did nothing, now would I?"

Shuuhei groaned, _'no… __**of course **__not…'_

"If you're planning on covering up the loss, can you at least do it _sensibly_?"

Ichigo gave a look of I-have-no-idea-what-you're-saying at his slightly distraught friend, "sensibly?"

The tattooed man could almost relate to the annoyance Rukia would've felt every morning while having a discussion with this man, "like _abiding _by the bloody _law_, maybe?"

Looking at the lack of expression on the ginger-head's face, Shuuhei felt a vein beginning to throb, _'he is so not listening to me…'_

"How are you even planning on taking the profits back? You heard what Aizen said, it just happened to be _chance_ that the girl who was working on the product decided to quit our company, 'on the basis that a certain orange-haired Chief Officer was sexually harassing her', and migrated to his with all of our drawn up drafts."

The light blue office chair gave a small creak of compression as Ichigo leant his body back, tilting it slightly along with him, "just goes to show, don't trust pretty girls."

"I heard she had some kind of thing for Aizen, like a 'crazy-devotion' kind of thing." Shuuhei fiddled with a sleek, black pen between his fingers, "he's a manipulative bastard if you ask me, the sort of guy who has no problem playing around with people to get what he wants. Probably some kind of evil overlord."

A brow lifted at the string of curses, "sounds like me."

"Yeah," Shuuhei, not even bothering to take a glance at Ichigo, only grinned at the thought of comparing the two hotshots of the marketing world, "he just enjoys it more."

Scanning over the little summary piece underneath the graph, Ichigo scribbled down a couple of footnotes with arrows and underlines scattered all over the margins of the paper, "who even hired that girl anyway?"

Shuuhei shifted in his seat, "you did."

"I did?" A soft clatter of pen dropping on the metal desk sharply cut through the comfortable atmosphere of the room, making Shuuhei shift his attention to Ichigo from the paper he was analyzing.

Sometimes, Shuuhei felt the urge to repeatedly slam some sense into the man's head through the use of a sturdy wall. Right now, he felt more like weeping at how hopeless Ichigo was, "you hired her because she had, as I quote, 'a nice body for a cute face'. Do you even remember her _name_?"

"What ever it was," Ichigo nibbled at the tip of his pen, "it couldn't have been that important."

"'_Couldn't have been that important'_?!"A thick pile of paperwork was thrown down onto the wooden table at the opposite end of the room from the main desk, "Hinamori Momo was the mole that stole drafted product ideas from our company that took months to compile! The company lost millions of dollars from this incident with you standing in no-hope position!"

At the exasperated outburst, Ichigo merely shrugged, "I forget details that are insignificant."

Gently pinching the bridge of his nose, Shuuhei slowly got up from his seat and flexed out his shoulder blades, "you are such a simple creature, Kurosaki Ichigo. I hope Rukia says yes to you soon, having you this _mindless _to everything is such a pain."

"I'm asking for more of an… 'I do'."

"Yeah, or an I…"

Shuuhei swiveled his taught body around to fully face the seated man, his eyes wide and pupil narrowed, "_'I do_'!? You're asking to _marry_ her!?"

Ichigo breathed a small sigh; "I told you that I took her out for pancakes."

The tattooed man opened his mouth before closing it tight. He couldn't even articulate the right words right now to express his _utter _confusion. As far as he knew, the two hated each other like a feral cat and dog; territorial of the specific field they worked in, never allowing each other to excel too far ahead. The last time Shuuhei saw them together in the same room was at a conference meeting, and even then, they practically sat at the opposite ends of the room! If the man was planning on simply playing with her or even just _dating _her, sure he'd understand; but _marry?! _Even if Ichigo was high on some weird illicit drug, there was no way Rukia would agree to any of these shenanigans!

"Ichigo… what's wrong with you? I thought you hated her existence?"

Yes, it was quite weird. Ichigo couldn't find the correct way to express the sensation that came over him the moment he hungrily devoured her lips; nor could he explain how his intense hatred for her very being turned into that of obsession he was very willing to pursue. He really had no idea.

But he _loved _it.

"Yeah well, things happened."

"But _marry_?" Thick, tan fingers combed through black tresses in an act of daze, "how did Rukia take all this?"

"Pretty well actually, she didn't try to kill me, so we're getting somewhere. Although, I thought she was going to stab me with the knife at some point… "

Shuuhei mentally shook his head in apprehension. It was official.

_They were both crazy._

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_To be continued…_

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**Read. Smile. Review.**

**(I mean absolutely no offense by using the name Jesus; if you have a problem with it, please notify me).**

**To me, Aizen will be the one and only, true badass villain. Hence why I chose him over my other candidate, Tsukishima.**

**ALSO, just as a little side story. I personally don't have any experience or knowledge of how a company works, it's dynamics or any back doors it has. So, me in trying to get to understand it a bit more actually researched around and asked on a forum site "how to steal profit from rival companies" and my question got deleted as a breach against the site terms and conditions XD! Now, my IP is probably gonna have a record of "this person tried to ask how to steal profits" xD.**

**This is the furtherest I pre-wrote my story up to, from here, my updates will be a little more slower. Luckily summer holiday's is coming soon!**

**Thank you so so much to all those who reviewed and enjoyed my story! Puts a smile on my face every time :D!**

**Regards,**

**M.**


	4. Chapter 4

_(Recap)_

"_Yeah well, things happened."_

"_But marry?" Thick, tan fingers combed through black tresses in an act of daze, "how did Rukia take all this?"_

"_Pretty well actually, she didn't try to kill me, so we're getting somewhere. Although, I thought she was going to stab me with the knife at some point… "_

_Shuuhei mentally shook his head in apprehension. It was official._

_**They were both crazy.**_

* * *

"Why the _hell _are you here?"

Opening the door to her office, Rukia honestly couldn't say that she was surprised that a familiar head of orange greeted her that morning. She closed her eyes and held her breath. Really, in the short years she's known the obnoxious man, she berated herself for not expecting it at the least. Rukia lifted her head to look back at Ichigo and felt the corner of her lips twitch; yes, she should've expected it, but it didn't stop her irritation from building up at the mere sight of his moping face. People were crazy if they thought she'd put up with his over-confident ass so early in the morning, "go back to your own room!"

"But Ruki-"

"Don't you '_Rukia' _me," the dark-haired woman gruffly walked over to her desk to place her bag down and unbuttoned her blazer to hang on the hook –all while avoiding eye contact from the pools of amber that she knew were staring intensely at her back, "and how did you even get in here? I locked the room!"

"I got the maintenance guy to open it for me," Ichigo rested his chin on the white leather couch situated in the middle of the room. Rukia felt the urge to slap the small pout off from his lips. She swore to god he was mocking her; reveling in her irritation, "and I find it highly unnecessary for you to go and lock your room like this, we shouldn't be keeping secrets from each other."

With a small creak from the chair, Rukia sat down into its deep embrace and started to take out her paperwork. Staring at the ridiculous amount of dead trees in front of her, she found herself deeply contemplating what she should throw at this man, "I've been locking my room recently because it always seems to invite an unwanted guest."

Rukia lifted her head at the odd silence on his part and was welcomed with the full throttle of Kurosaki's pout – if it were possible, he'd have sparkles glistening next to those eyes of his. Feeling the corner of her lips twitch in apprehension, she subconsciously gripped her glossy, black pen a little tighter than necessary, "why are you staring at me like that…"

His lips were set in a lop-sided goofy grin that almost made her own mouth ache, _'too... wide,' _he looked absolutely stupid with his stupid face and his stupid hair and stupid little smirk. But his eyes… his eyes were unnerving her. They were too intense, too fixated. Rukia gave a silent curse under her breath when she realized that she was actually staring into his eyes with no shame.

Amethyst scanned across lines of writing, taking careful note of the edits and red arrows made around the margins of the paper. Whatever game he was playing, she didn't want to be a part of it. But as much as she tried to immerse herself into the work, a head of bright orange hovered at the corner of her eyes. The room was nearly all white, of _course _he just had to be bloody obvious, "don't you have to other places to grace your presence with, Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo stretched out his long arms without moving from his position, simply leaning back into the couch and stare at the textureless ceiling – which, he mentally noted, was spotlessly white, along with the rest of her room. It reminded him of snow, "well you've always enjoyed my company during the evenings-"

Rukia scoffed before she could stop herself. She hoped to God that he wasn't stupid enough to say that to her and _mean _it, "- so I was just curious as to how you started off your mornings, since it seems to be harder to catch you then."

"Well, Kurosaki-san," for some reason, the young woman always felt like a grumpy librarian whenever she had to deal with Ichigo's antics. Always telling him to be quiet, to talk sensibly, to direct his job – hell she may as well been his _mother_, "I hope at the very least, that you have useful things to discuss if you're going out of your way to pester me in the mornings as well."

Rukia slightly frowned when her words came out a little snappier than usual. As much as he acted like an idiot, he was still her boss and superior – constantly butting heads with him and challenging his position of power would've been considered business suicide, she _knew _this, but found herself doing it ever damn day. She was just glad that he tended to take her abuses like a punching bag; for now, he didn't look like he'd fire her anytime soon.

"Do you happen to remember a Hinamori Momo, by any chance?"

If it were the name of any other woman, Rukia would've wondered why he was asking her, but it wasn't; Rukia immediately pursed her lips at the thought of the girl, "of course I do. Months of drafting right down the drain and into rival company hands."

Though the case was dropped before it could even get to the judging panel, it caused a great void in the company's profit that required all hands on the next project to make up for the loss. In her honest opinion, counter-suing Suigetsu Corp. could've pretty much shut down the entire company during it's weakened state; however, Rukia secretly wondered why their boss, who would've been the perfect definition of _insanity_, didn't take up the mantle to fight for the profit loss and defamation of character.

She finally placed her papers down after she acknowledged that she wasn't going to get any work done with him around, "you got sued as well, to what I remember – for sexual harassment?-" Rukia mentally snorted at the irony but had to admit to herself that the man never went too far had it been obvious that his advances were genuinely unwanted – it just so happened that a large number of women actually _loved _the attention, "- it was mighty suspicious too, how Suigetsu Corp. had a sudden influx in profit after she quit our company and dropped the case against you."

Rukia glanced over to the man still invading her _precious_ couch space, secretly hoping that he'd get his ass off of it some time soon, "one of these days, Kurosaki-san, you're going to bite off more than you chew."

It was then when a small, mischievous smirk stretched across his handsome features, the one that was nearly, almost always, followed by some sort of trouble – or an increase of shifts on _her _part. Work itself wasn't what she was complaining about, it just drove Rukia crazy how he found ways to accompany her during her late hour shifts – it was a wonder how the man got his job done with all the tomfoolery he got up to, "but that's what makes it all the more entertaining, don't you think?"

Trust the man who had orange hair to live life on the crazy side of the scale, "you're thinking about fighting it out with Aizen, aren't you?"

Ichigo tilted his head towards her direction with an expression Rukia couldn't quite put a finger on, "how did you know?"

So, he still qualified for the definition of insanity after all. Cupping her face in her hands, Rukia all but gave a sigh, "Kurosaki-san, I know -" '_you… but I shouldn't…' _Rukia gingerly bit down on her tongue to stop herself from finishing that sentence - she didn't _know _Kurosaki Ichigo, what the hell was she about to say? Everything she 'knew' about him may as well been all a lie, Rukia personally believed that no human could ever be so… so _fake_, "- your patterns of stupidity, it becomes predictable after a while."

Ichigo secretly grinned at the barely noticeable hitch in her flow of words, "So, what do you think my course of action should be?"

Amethysts snapped in his direction and flared irritably, "I don't know why you're asking for my opinion, Kurosaki-san. You're going to do whatever the hell you want either way."

"Well," there was a small sincere smile that stretched across his lips. His eyes were no longer on her and instead, looked out the window, "I'm just asking for your advice, Rukia-san."

There was a quirk of an eyebrow and a long, empty stare from Rukia. Hearing him say her name with an honorific was alien to her, "you have advisors for that, Kurosaki-san."

"A little bird told me that you used to work as a consultant back in your previous company," the head of orange turned back to face the woman behind the desk, ever-so-slightly narrowing his eyes at her sudden tense posture, "most importantly, I value your opinion."

Rukia pursed her glossed lips and felt her hear beat faster at the mention of her previous workplace. If anything, she would've loved it if her past disposition never saw the light of day again. She stared back into those amber pools before sighing and dropping her gaze, "you make things work."

With a soft thud, the glossy black pen was dropped onto the desk and her hand found a path through her raven tresses. Rukia glanced sideways at the window with a faraway look in her eyes, "as crazy as it sounds, even to myself, you're _good_ at what you do. Under all that… _imbecility_, you're a calculative individual who tries to stand several steps ahead of competition."

There was a brief pause before Rukia furrowed her brows, "your methods of getting there is also sometimes _questionable_ as to whether or not it goes by the statute – with the number of times you've managed to get away, it leads me to wonder how high your connections go up the social ladder. Your actions are rash and sometimes crazy. I can't even recall the number of times I thought to myself, 'he won't be able to make this'. But somehow – like some kind of save-the-day super hero- you make things click into place at the end of the day."

Amethysts turned to look back at her boss, who still maintained his focus on her, "I don't believe in something like luck, Kurosaki-san, but meeting you and seeing you in action really does waver my opinion on that from time to time. Coupled with your drive - your _ambition_ - it makes you a _frightening _individual."

Ichigo quirked his brow at the in-depth evaluation he had just heard. It surprised him to think that she had so closely analyzed him all this time while keeping him at such a distance – it felt as if he found himself in a cautious waltz, where both individuals were picking apart at each other's character whilst dancing under the pretense of rhythmic strides – never letting each other come too close, _but_, close enough to greatly decipher the other. It intrigued and excited him at the same time, "so you think I'll be lucky this time round?"

Rukia frowned warily, Kurosaki Ichigo seemed to be a man who had a knack for pushing his boundaries, "Lady Luck is a fickle thing, Kurosaki-san. You're not going to have her favors forever."

He cracked a mischievous smile, "and if I'm willing to risk it?"

Ichigo was half expecting her to scold him on his idiocy – but was slightly surprised when all she did was stare. Rukia simply rested her chin in her hand, "I don't know… but I can't tell you to do anything – you're Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo silently wondered if Rukia realized that she was actually giving him a soft smile. She would probably skin him alive if he pointed it out, "and the Kurosaki Ichigo I know does what ever the hell he wants and comes out of it alive."

There was a short laugh, "I'm glad you think so highly of me."

At his light-hearted reply, Rukia pulled her lips into a scowl without even noticing that she was smiling, "that's the complete opposite of what I - "

A small, but not discreet enough, creak alerted the two bickering colleagues of a new presence in the room, "am… I interrupting something…"

Raven pivoted her head towards the source of the voice. Rukia mentally gave a sigh of relief at her friend, she almost felt claustrophobic being the only one with Ichigo in her office, "it's alright Rangiku, we were just discussing work."

Rangiku eyed her friend wearily who, in turn, was stiffly focusing her gaze on the strawberry blonde. She turned her attention towards her boss to see his line of vision still on Rukia, "uhm… I can come back lat-"

"That," Rukia narrowed her eyes at Rangiku, quirking her eyebrows and twitching her lips so that she would get the drift – ixnay on the elp-hay, "won't be necessary, Kurosaki-san was about to leave anyways."

Ichigo glanced at Rangiku and greeted her with a smile, "it's alright Matsumoto-san, I have a stack of paperwork to do back at my room," he slowly got up from his seat and tucked his black blazer in his arm, "I'll be taking my leave."

Tensely waiting for the man to walk out of the office, Rangiku silently squealed as the door closed with a click and skipped over to her seated friend, dumping her bag and overcoat carelessly on the seat he was in only a few seconds ago, "oh my god, oh my god. Oh. My. _God_. _What _was all _that _about!?"

Groaning under her breath, Rukia opened her mouth to reply before her friend slapped her on the arm. Soothing the targeted limb, Rukia looked up at her friend as if she had grown another head – it didn't necessary _hurt_, but she just hit her for Christ's sake! "Wha-what was that for!"

Rangiku smacked her pink lips in disapproval, her eyes staring down at Rukia's own with fire blazing in them. As a friend of many years, she could already see Rukia's reply flowing from her eyes, "don't tell me it was _nothing_, Rukia, cause I saw _something_."

Rukia sputtered in disbelief, rubbing her arm slowly, "you didn't even let me speak."

"It was what you were going to say," the curvaceous woman crossed her arms over her ample bosom – almost like a mother scolding her child. Rukia felt something gravely wrong with this imagery, "but you didn't even let me _speak_!"

"As if you were going to say anything _different_," Rangiku plopped herself in Rukia's couch and started to silently interrogate her with her eyes, "spill everything, or so help me god, I will go and put articles up on the front bulletin."

Mouth closed into a firm line and a scowl was set on Rukia's face, "you wouldn't _dare_."

Smoky blue eyes narrowed and held a gleam of confidence. Rangiku gave no reply and only proceeded to send her more questioning stares. One that almost egged her on, _'just try me, Kia-chan'_ – thus, Rukia sighed in defeat, mentally berating herself for giving into her friend's antics all the time and satisfying her unquenchable curiosity, "he just came to discuss Hinamori."

"Hinamori Momo?" Strawberry blonde piped up in question.

"He's planning to take Suigetsu head on," Rukia scrunched up her nose at the sudden spectacle of her friend choking and spitting her coffee out back into her cup. Amusingly, she saw the familiar face that anybody of sane mind tended to wear every time they heard one of Ichigo's outlandish plans, "head on? _The _Suigetsu corp.? Is… he insane?! I thought the case got trashed..."

"Well," picking up her black pen, Rukia resumed her work, "he _is_ Kurosaki Ichigo. Man won't go down without a fight."

Rangiku quietly groaned into her hands. She believed the boss to be a highly capable individual who was also painfully handsome. Heck, she would've been crazy if she didn't! As much as Rangiku idolized her superior, every time he went out to do something crazy, it always meant a higher stack of paperwork. The regular load was already bad as it was! "For goodness sake, Rukia, knock some sense into your man."

Rukia accidently slammed her hand against the desk a little louder than first intended, "_not_ my man."

"Right," a perfectly manicured hand waved warily as if dismissing her rebuttal, "of _course_ not."

Just as she was about to verbally torture her friend, a knock on the door diverted her attention. Rukia sent Rangiku one final glare saying, _'we're not finished here,' _before looking towards the door, "yes, come in."

Shuuhei walked into the room with a familiar blue folder in his hands. Rukia got up from her seat to greet him, "good morning, Hisagi-san."

Casually scratching his nape, Shuuhei flashed a smile to the two ladies in the room, "no need for such formalities, Rukia-san." He walked over to her desk and placed down the folder while quietly declining Rangiku's offer for morning coffee.

Rukia gingerly pinched the bridge of her nose, "there just seems to be a great _lack _in formality around the building these days," she opened the folder in front of her and skimmed through the introductive paragraph written on the front page, "maybe you could teach your boss a few manners."

The tattooed man gave a small scoff, "that man wouldn't be able to pick up on anything even if there was a 'for dummies' guide written for him."

This earned a small giggle from Rukia who looked up at Shuuhei, "must be exhausting, working under that brute."

Shuuhei sent an almost sympathetic look at Rukia's direction, "actually, I think you're suffering the most out of all of us."

The small smile that had stretched across Rukia's face twitched at the corner of her lips. Somehow, she wasn't surprised at the fact that he knew about all this horseplay, "I don't know what you're talking about, _Hisagi-san_." Rukia almost spat out his name with venom, all while trying to stop her lips from twitching. Shuuhei felt a dark aura rolling off from the seated woman. It amazed him how such a small body could deal so much damage and cause so much fear.

"O-of course not."

The poor thing was in _denial._ Shuuhei bit the inside of his cheek at this. Ichigo was going to have a field day trying to convince her for her hand and from the looks of it, she wasn't going to give it to him anytime soon… _or _without a fight. He just prayed that their combined insanity didn't escalate on a grand scale.

As much as Rukia was going to deny it – which he _knew _she would, quite fiercely in fact – Shuuhei couldn't help but see a definite string of lunacy that ran through both their webs. Both were hardheaded with short fuses and an even shorter tolerance for meritless goals. Excelling in their own fields, there were too many times where either of the individuals walked into the room like they were some holy entity. Competing with them as a rival company worker would've been too much of a strenuous profession for him – Ichigo's level of impulsivity and Rukia's following not too short after – would've been too much of a mental strain on any realistic individual.

Shuuhei noticed that Rukia was back to concentrating on the task in front of her, a pen twirling indolently between her slender fingers. Noticing the comfortable silence that had settled in the office, he felt as if it was the calm before the storm.

The next few weeks was going to be a _nightmare_.

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_To be continued…_

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**Read. Smile. Review.**

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**Regards,**

**M.**


	5. Chapter 5

_(Recap)_

_As much as Rukia was going to deny it – which he __knew __she would, quite fiercely in fact – Shuuhei couldn't help but see a definite string of lunacy that ran through both their webs. Both were hardheaded with short fuses and an even shorter tolerance for meritless goals. Excelling in their own fields, there was too many times where either of the individuals walked into the room like they were some holy entity. Competing with them as a rival company worker would've been too much of a strenuous profession for him – Ichigo's level of impulsivity and Rukia's following not too short after – would've been too much of a mental strain on any realistic individual._

_Shuuhei noticed that Rukia was back to concentrating on the task in front of her, a pen twirling indolently between her slender fingers. Noticing the comfortable silence that had settled in the office, he felt as if it was the calm before the storm._

_The next few weeks was going to be a __nightmare__._

* * *

Out of the two hundred or so applicants, she always held pride in the fact that she was the one to obtain the highly sought-after position within the Tensho Corporation. Therefore, despite what she let on, Matsumoto Rangiku loved her job. Of course, that didn't stop her from complaining about the workload and the ridiculous number of shifts – it was something she passionately vowed to complain about for the rest of her life.

So yes, she found the downsides of being a businesswoman for a company in high demand, but Rangiku felt that she was only ardently fulfilling the criteria's of having an office life – you come in, whine, finish the job and come out of the office looking _fabulous _in your adorable white blouse that matched oh-so-well with that pastel pink double-breasted blazer and high-waist skirt. _Damn _did she look good in it.

Her sense of fashion aside, Rangiku also had a keen eye for intricate details most others often overlooked. Because of this sensitivity to observance, it made her mirthfully interested in how people operated under given circumstances. She became _intrigued_. The fact that there were so _many_ fascinating people in one body of building made her appreciate her job even more.

"Argh!"

Committing the printed revenue's graph in her mind for later use, Rangiku slowly panned her head away from her paperwork to see Rukia slamming the phone receiver down, her face contorted in pure _irritation_. With a brow raised in mild curiosity, the soft bellow of coffee steam wafting to her cheeks made them tinge pink and moisten from the vapor, "there's no way they wouldn't have heard that. You should really control that temper of yours, Kia-chan. God knows how you reel in business partners with such a short fuse."

The other free hand slammed down onto the desk with such force that a tingling sensation of pain danced on Rukia's palms. She let out a deep breath before cupping her, _'rather small' _Rangiku noted, face, "I don't _need_ to control my temper. Everyone around me needs control their habit of _pissing me off."_

"Did a meeting get cancelled again?" turning back, Rangiku softly blew away the mist that arose from her cup, which immediately returned back to eagerly enter her glossed lips as she took a sip of caffeinated salvation. Setting the cup down on the glass table, she rustled through her own paperwork with a little sense of indifference. It happened from time to time, for whatever reason – companies that went ahead to cancel meetings, usually on short notice; inevitably making the company scrap week's worth of drafting and planning that went into the preparation for the presentations. It was unfortunate, but they've had their fair share of hits and misses.

"No!" Rukia gritted out, grabbing at the sheets of paper strewn across her desk, "it would've been better if they did! At least we don't have to _care _about them after they've canceled!" There was another aggravated cry.

The strawberry blonde turned back to face her friend again, "then what's the problem?"

With the small stack of paper held untidily in her hands, Rukia slammed it back down onto the desk while bolting out of her seat. In her grip, the sides of the paper creased miserably at her abuse. Rukia stared at the crease marks in great contempt and refused to give a damn, "their bloody company changed the meeting date to _tomorrow_!"

"_What!" _Rangiku stood up from her seat. In all her years of working in this office, Rangiku endured through a hell of a lot of crazy situations; her _boss _was _Kurosaki Ichigo _– the most impulsively, handsome individual she had the secret pleasure of meeting; and she worked alongside _Ice Princess Rukia_ – the _second _most (self-denied) impulsive individual she had met. As if things weren't already bad as it was - with two hotheaded, argumentative, _violent _alpha dominators on one office level! "But that's an entire _week _pulled! They can't just do this!"

Without a word, Rukia reached into the first drawer to pick up a familiar, white packet, _'painkiller, where would I be without you.'_ Taking four tablets and chugging them down with a glass of water, Rukia wiped away at the small stream of water that had managed to spill past her lips. Looking at this, Rangiku worried for her friend's mangled state of mind, "four tablets at once? Isn't that a little too much?"

Rukia took her place back inside the embrace of her seat while lightly shaking her head, "one was for the headache I already had; one was for this shenanigan they pulled-" she gestured her hand towards the phone machine and by now, her voice had risen an octave higher, "- _one _because I now have to see that stupid _berry! _And the fourth one is because the day hasn't even _ended yet! It hasn't even ended yet, and Buddha, Jesus and peanut butter are all out to get me!" _

Rangiku stared at Rukia; she found it tragic at the fact that she wasn't even remotely questioning her friend's sanity anymore…

"I guess that's the kind of authority they have the pleasures of having… being such a large company and all… can't you haggle them with you professional, ice princess charm or something?!" The more she thought about it, the more Rangiku found herself panicking, "Rukia! _And entire week!"_

"They wanted the meeting _this evening_. I _haggled _and got it moved to tomorrow." Closing her eyes, the image of the elderly CEO flashed across Rukia's mind, "plus… with the lack of extra lives I have, disappointing Yamamoto Genryuusai's expectations is something I don't want to do."

Rangiku groaned audibly into her hands. They were going to _cram._ She _hated _cramming, "are you going to call boss-san?"

Gently massaging her temple, Rukia stared at the phone receiver and felt a flicker of comfort as her eyes landed on a decent dent embedded into the side of the object. She slowly got out of her seat and started to pack her things. "I'll go tell the two up there; you go around and gather the evaluation and drafting team. We're having a cram meeting."

Rangiku all but whimpered and got herself ready to move, "does this mean we're staying overnight?"

"Most likely," Rukia hurriedly grabbed for her navy, satin overcoat and walked briskly to the door, "tell them to be at the conference room by five. Lock the door behind you and I'll meet you there."

Turning the cold surface of the handle, Rukia exited her room and immediately took a sharp left towards the head office. Mentally, she grumbled at the prospect of having to spend more time with her tormentor; but she was a professional, and she would act the part - it didn't mean she couldn't bitch about it in her mind, though. And godamnit she was _bitching _right now.

As she got closer to her destination, she saw Orihime straightening up at her presence. Her indifferent expression bloomed into a tense smile, her mouth ready to open for whatever _goddamn_ reason Rukia really didn't have the time to contemplate on. With a small wave of her hands, she dismissed whatever the woman was about to say, "no need to stand up, I got this."

The parted lips immediately pursed in a tight line and for a second, the artificial smile fell from Orihime's face. Rukia quirked a brow, wondering if the orange-haired secretary was going to say something about her rude – _she_ _admitted_ _this_ – behavior. The corner of the lips lifted back into a smile, and Rukia turned away in bored disappointment to knock on the wooden door – proceeding to open it without waiting for a reply, "Kurosaki-san."

Now, before she actually took a step into the office, Rukia – for some strange, warped reason – had the mental image of Kurosaki Ichigo turning slowly, _diabolically_ in his chair, with his slender fingers steepled in front of his grinning face - as if he _knew _she was going to be in his room. Surprisingly enough, he was leaning casually on the table situated near the large-paned windows, reading from a piece of paper. Rukia found herself eyeing his slightly unbuttoned business shirt and the red tie that was strew carelessly on the table – white suited him.

"What brings you here, Rukia-san?" From the couches in the middle of the room, Shuuhei stood up from his seat and looked over at Rukia, a slight frown adorning his ruggedly handsome face. Rukia felt the corner of her lip twitch at his silent stare. She had no doubts, none at all, that the man had intended – secretly, in his mind, where he had a sadistic tendency of seeing people squirm – to ask why she had come here _on her own accord_.

Despite feeling targeted on by her friend, Rukia secretly felt relieved at not having to chase both of them down individually at a dire time like this.

"Eh," The head of orange turned to the new presence in the room, mouth slightly agape at the sudden encounter. His lips slowly stretched into a smirk as large hands slowly brought down the paper from his attention, "to think that you'd willingly come to visit me. What a pleasant surprise."

Turning to Ichigo, Rukia mentally rolled her eyes. She had wondered why that berry idiot hadn't badgered her the second she opened the door – it seemed as if he actually had the ability to _concentrate _on his work. Completely ignoring his statement, she shifted her attention to her tattooed colleague, "we're having a cram meeting. Matsumoto-san has already gone to gather the rest of the workers. I'll fill you in on the way, but we need to move _now._"

There was a sound of papers rustling as Ichigo collected all the strewn sheets into a pile to place on his desk. Hisagi reached for his blazer that was carelessly tossed over the cushiony armrest and tucked it in his arms, "cram meeting? What's this about?"

Impatiently, Rukia ushered at both of them to start walking with her as she turned around to leave the room. Both men complied without a question. As the three walked out of the office, from the distance, Inoue's quiet, "Good bye, Kurosaki-san," was heard. Rukia didn't know if the orange idiot had heard it or simply decided to ignore her farewell greeting, "Gotei called up. The conference meeting we were supposed to have next week with them on our latest project has been reallocated."

Shifting his blazer to his other hand and walking briskly behind the petit woman. Shuuhei gave an intense frown, man, did she walk _fast_. Ichigo simply quirked an eyebrow, "to when?"

Rukia gave a brief side-glance at him, her eyes soulless and robbed of their usual fiery gleam, "tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Shuuhei spluttered, "they reduced it to an entire week?!"

Rukia sighed; it was like a replay of just a couple of minutes ago. She almost had to compliment the Gotei Inc. for having the ability to reduce two of their most finest colleagues to rubble like this – keeping to mind that Rangiku and Shuuhei would've had the worst of the brunt… working directly under Ichigo and all. "What can we do? This is Yamamoto Genryuusai we're dealing with. He could buy our company ten times over if he wanted to."

Ichigo ran a hand through his short locks, "the old man seems to be fond of his games..."

Rukia glanced over at Ichigo, her brows etched in worry, "please refrain yourself from doing anything stupid… he's going to _eat us alive_."

Her only reply was a brief, light-hearted shrug. At his nonchalant body language, Rukia felt the overwhelming urge to hug him…around the neck… with a rope... on top of the peak of Mount Fuji…

"But then again," Ichigo gave a smirk at the thought, "it's people like him who makes this line of work interesting."

Rukia pinched the bridge of her nose; certainly, such intent to murder wasn't healthy… Did she only take one tablet for this idiot? Had she really? Reaching the door to the meeting room – _officially designated as the room of death by many workers alike - _she gave a small, helpless whimper; her hands resting on the cold surface of the handle, unable to muster the strength to turn it and face utter demise. Ichigo set his hand above hers, the warmth from his palm heating the top of her hand, "let's do good work today, ne?"

With –_ almost a giddy – _smile, the man opened the door and walked in with an undeniable spring in his steps. Rukia stood frozen at the threshold of the door. _He was insane… absolutely, completely insane…_

From behind her, Shuuhei stared at the continuous interaction they had. He secretly wondered to himself if the atmosphere was always like this when they were together – one wherein which no one could interfere. Walking behind them the entire time, for him to break such a thing was impossible. He slowly walked up to Rukia and gently placed a hand on her back, "sometimes, I wonder if he's supposed to be in an asylum, too…"

Turning to stare at Shuuhei, Rukia gave a tiny groan, "I feel so sorry for you, Shuuhei."

He gave a small smile while smoothly ushering her into the room, "thanks Rukia, I need as much sympathy as I can get…"

As soon as she entered the room, she could see the familiar, downcast and horrified expressions on their colleagues' faces. From the large, wooden conference table, Rangiku straightened up as soon as the remaining people walked in, "we're all here, Rukia-san."

Taking the queue, Rukia walked over to the podium that was situated near the large, screen projector. Setting the microphone aside, she rested her hands on the edges of the podium and leant forward, "I received a call from the Gotei United Incorporations. The presentation meeting we were supposed to have next Thursday evening has been moved… to _tomorrow_."

A choir of protest arose from the table, nothing Rukia hadn't already heard from Rangiku's groaning, "that's enough!" The bustling died down to grumpy murmurs before giving Rukia absolute silence, "I know what they did was a dick-move, for a lack of a better word, and knowing a couple of you –" Rukia rested her eyes on Rangiku, who only stuck her tongue out in reply, "I know we can spend days complaining about it. But it's already _done _and we need to get ready for tomorrow."

Ichigo gave a small grin at Rukia's slip of professionalism. Oh yeah, she was _irritated_ all right.

Standing up from his seat, he drew in the attention of his subordinates and smoothly allowed Rukia to transfer authority and take her seat next to Rangiku, "alright, how much work do we have till the final piece?"

A tall, slender man stood up from his seat and habitually pushed the frame of his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "well, the drafting team were already ahead of schedule anyway. It'll only take a couple of more hours."

Giving a satisfied nod, Ichigo turned to a youthful woman sitting upright in her seat, "a lot of the pressure will be on the evaluation team, is that alright?" The melancholic woman gave a small nod in reply, quietly fumbling with her long, braided hair.

Clapping his hands together, Ichigo flashed the faces around him a large grin, "alright, let's get started."

* * *

Letting out a long sigh, Rangiku cupped her cheeks with her hands before stretching her arms out. Sitting back in her chair, she took a quick glance at the clock - which read two in the morning. Turning back, she observed the conference table – it was only the four of them and the two managers in charge of the teams that were left behind, she felt herself smiling when they all held expressions of relief.

Despite the hours of sleep they eventually had to sacrifice, the presentation was complete and looking quite good, if she did say so herself.

Looking to her right, Rangiku gave a small smile at the picture of Rukia sleeping with her arms acting as a pillow. Focusing her smoky, blue eyes further behind her, she saw her boss gazing intensely with no awareness and care of those around them. Oh this was getting _good_.

Softly coughing to herself, Rangiku scooted her chair back and got up from her seat, "Kurosaki-san, I think it's safe to dismiss everyone now."

Snapping out of his revere, Ichigo shifted his eyes to the curvaceous woman and gave a small nod, "yeah, you can all leave now, thanks for the hard work."

As papers started to rustle and the sound of shifting chairs filled the room, the manager of the drafting team came up next to Rangiku, "is Rukia-san alright?"

Rangiku turned towards the bespectacled male, "she had a headache before, and with the sudden cram meeting, she must've exhausted herself." She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "it's alright Uryu-kun, I'm sure Kurosaki-san will make sure she reaches her home safely." At this she spared a side-glance at Ichigo, who only quirked an eyebrow at her suggestive grin.

The strawberry-blonde woman caught the little action and started to put her blazer on. Reaching to grab Shuuhei's forearm and placing her hand on Uryu's shoulder, she forcefully began to usher them towards the door, "we'll leave Rukia-chan to you, Kurosaki-san!"

And the door shut closed.

Ichigo had to wonder if the woman _knew _what would happen if she left the demon-midget and him alone in a room together… something told him that she did… she knew _very_ _well_ what would happen. Pondering on the little assistive gesture Rangiku provided, Ichigo felt that she was going to act a crucial role in his scheme to catch himself one stubborn, aggressive rabbit.

From the door, he turned his attention to the sleeping, limp figure of Rukia. Grabbing his overcoat, he began to make his way closer to her and took the seat Rangiku had been occupying. Draping it over thin shoulders, he gently placed his hand on top of soft, black tresses, "Rukia…" he softly called out.

There was no movement or reply.

His hand reached over to give her hand a small squeeze, "Rukia…"

Brows furrowed at the noise but Rukia only buried herself further in the crooks of her arm. Ichigo grinned, "Rukia, tell me where you live. I need to take you home."

"Be quiet… Rangiku," was muffled in her arms, "you know… where… live."

Shaking his head in amusement, Ichigo turned to his phone and proceeded to look through the company database for her profile.

_Rei… Ren... Rika... Riko... Rin..._

_**Rukia**_**.**

Smiling at the screen, Ichigo pocketed the device and got out of his seat. Placing a hand over Rukia's slim waist, he pushed the chair back with his feet at the same time, placed a hand just under the hem of her skirt – stopping it from falling and exposing her under garment. In his large overcoat, she looked like a cocoon in his arms. Rukia nuzzled into his chest and Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle. If she were conscious of what she was doing right now, he would've been skinned and burned ten times over, "let's get you home."

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_To be continued…_

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**Read. Smile. Review.**

**Firstly, I'd like to give a great big THANK YOU to all of you who reviewed and look out for my story! I'm hoping to see more of them in the near future :D.**

**I haven't forgotten about the story… in fact, I haven't forgotten any of my stories, and their plots are still continuing in my mind, it's just hard for me to put it on paper at a designated time. But I'm taking it slow and steady! **

**Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!**

**Regards, **

**M.**


	6. Chapter 6

_(Recap)_

_Shaking his head in amusement, Ichigo turned to his phone and proceeded to look through the company database for her profile._

_Rei… Ren... Rika... Riko... Rin..._

_Rukia__._

_Smiling at the screen, Ichigo pocketed the device and got out of his seat. Placing a hand over Rukia's slim waist, he pushed the chair back with his feet at the same time, placed a hand just under the hem of her skirt – stopping it from falling and exposing her under garment. In his large overcoat, she looked like a cocoon in his arms. Rukia nuzzled into his chest and Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle. If she were conscious of what she was doing right now, he would've been skinned and burned ten times over, "let's get you home."_

* * *

Driving through the vacant street, Ichigo felt a small sensation of eagerness pound at his heart and couldn't help but find it fascinatingly amusing. It certainly wasn't his first time having a woman in his car and driving down a forlorn highway, on his way to finding an appropriate destination of some sorts to settle _business_. Regardless of the pure carnal pleasure he sought after, Ichigo always knew he had _issues _that had to be catered to – arguing with that would've been a stupid move on his part. To deny his past _hobbies _and act as if he was acquitted from his former track record of females was also something he wouldn't do – if he had, he would've been a cowardly con-artist who couldn't accept his own blame. Was it pride? He didn't know. Ichigo vaguely supposed that it was also his great stubbornness that refused to simply sweep things under the carpet and leave it at that.

Giving out a sigh, dark amber shifted to the rearview mirror to observe Rukia's figure. Chuckling under his breath, Ichigo had to say that this would've been the first time he would've taken a _sleeping _woman back home. All other times, they were either clinging to his arm, fixing their make-up or drunk over his seats. Remembering the faces of some of those who had ridden in his car, Ichigo found his eyes lingering back on Rukia once again. Knowing the little spitfire, she probably wouldn't have allowed him to deny his past anyway. Because it made him a better man? Maybe. Because she was jealous? He secretly hoped so.

In all honesty, Ichigo wondered if there would ever be a time where she would be just as effected by him talking to another woman, as he was with her with other men. It was childish, he knew. But his greatest fear was him finally finding someone he genuinely loved, to only watch her from the sidelines. Even now, despite being persuasive in his advances, Ichigo had to say that Rukia was doing one hell of a good job on hiding her thoughts. With her, he just didn't know. Was she expecting him to take two steps forward or two steps back?

The woman was such a challenge for him. She seemed to be predictable one minute, then completely unpredictable the next. It wasn't like any kind of coquetry game he had ever played… if she was even playing at all.

Turning into the parking lot just off of the large apartment building, Ichigo turned the engine off and rested against his steering wheel to collect his thoughts. Reaching for the door handle, he got out of his vehicle and opened the back seat door. Gently putting himself halfway back into the car, Ichigo rummaged through her handbag for the apartment key before collecting the petite figure in his arms and closing the door with his feet.

Making his way across the ground floor of the building, Ichigo occasionally glanced down in his arms to take in Rukia's fine facial features. She buried her face closer into his chest with a small whimper, and he found it hilarious at the fact that even the she-demon looked peaceful when asleep. Smiling to himself, Ichigo couldn't help but imagine – he wouldn't mind going to bed and waking up every morning to this face.

Reaching the door with the large, steel number five nailed above its frame, Ichigo opened the door with the key in his hand and made his way into the dark flat. As soon as he came in, he took his shoes off, dropped the key quietly on top of the shoe rack and shuffled his way across the tiled floor -directly to the only room the flat seemed to have. Ichigo had to give an entertained snort at how white the entire complex was.

Reaching the bed, Ichigo propped a knee onto the surface and slowly began to bend down – quietly maneuvering his hand under the cover and easing Rukia in. As soon as she was in her bed, under the blanket, Rukia slid a hand around her pillow and gave a small mumble. Letting go of his breath, Ichigo slowly moved his hand to brush the hair out of Rukia's face. His heart jumped in surprise when her other hand suddenly grabbed onto his sleeves. Ichigo supposed it would've been wrong to take the gesture as an invitation – the woman wasn't even conscious! Shaking his head, Ichigo brought his face closer to her cheek and let his lips tenderly flutter across her skin. "If I stayed with you tonight," he whispered softly into her ear, "you'd slaughter me in the morning."

'…_And then all my efforts would go to nothing…'_

* * *

There was a familiar orchestra of birds singing in the morning. The sunlight trickled softly through ivory drapes into the spacious room to give its overall white texture a warm, yellow hue. As the light climbed gradually higher on the bed, it hit the delicate features of Rukia's youthful, slumbering face; illuminating it. Frowning at the sudden pink brightness behind her lids, she cracked open her eyes and squinted at the luminous intrusion.

Softly groaning, Rukia cuddled into her pillow and shifted under her alabaster tinted blanket. Breathing a deep sigh and rubbing her eyes open, she slowly gave herself up to arousal and sat up from the comfort of her bed, making sure to stretch out her limbs at the same time. Giving a satisfied purr as she extended her arms out above her head, her blouse lifting to expose a little bit of snowy, porcelain skin.

Glancing around her pure, white room, violaceous eyes landed on the digital clock stand that flickered quarter-past-seven. Silently cursing to her breath, Rukia bolted out of her bed and fumbled to put her slippers on, _'Jesus Christ, I need to get my skirt and sto…ckings…on?'_

Staring down at her legs, Rukia found that she was already wearing a pair – one in a fine shade of Black Dahlia. _The exact same one she had worn yesterday_. Giving herself time to process what had just happened, Rukia concluded that she was, in fact, _not _in her regular pajamas and was still in her office attire – sans the blazer. Frantically shuffling through her mind, all Rukia could remember was having a short rest in her arms at the cram meeting, falling asleep… then nothing…

_Something was very… very wrong here…_

Scuttling towards her handbag, half in a daze of confusion and weariness, Rukia began to hunt for her phone. When it was in her hands, she searched around to find her objective. Holding the cell to her ears, Rukia impatiently mumbled under her breath as the dial tone continued to reverberate; "come on; come on; come on… _Pick up_."

"_Good morning! Ruk-__"_

"Rangiku! What happened yesterday? How did I get home?" Rukia held the phone closer to her ear, "and why the hell am I not in my pajamas!"

There was a very brief period of silence; from the other line, Rangiku gave a hearty laugh, "_oh, that!-__" _Rukia could almost _imagine _Rangiku casually waving her hand dismissively at her, "_I told boss-san to take you home. Although-__" _her voice suddenly took a perplexed undertone,_ "__I can't explain you not being in your sleepwear, I assumed he'd get the hint and…__"_ The rest died off into nothing in Rukia's mind.

_I told boss-san to take you home._

_I told boss-san to take you home._

_I told** boss-san**. To. Take. You. **Home**._

She screamed bloody murder, "_you did **what**?!" _A hand reached to grab at raven hair, "_are you insane? That man could've raped me!_"

A scoff was Rangiku's reply, "_give him some credit, Kia-chan! At least he's hot!__"_

Rangiku, Rukia thought, had the Gods to thank at the fact that she was too disorientated at the moment to even throw crippling, verbal abuses at her. He had taken her home… that berry idiot had taken her _home_. She could paint a thousand-worded picture of how very _wrong _this was. Not caring whether her friend was still talking, Rukia hung up on the call. She palmed her forehead and sat down at the foot of her bed. The day hadn't even started yet and she was already in a foul mood.

In the middle of her despondent musing, her phone vibrated softly in her lifeless hand. Looking at the unfamiliar number, Rukia frowned and placed it back to her ear again, "hello?"

"_Open the door._"

_Doot._

_Doot._

_Doot._

'_What? What. What. What. What. What?'_

What… in _bloody hell _just happened…

Rukia searched through her phone call history and found the nameless number situated at the very top in its recency. It couldn't be… it just _couldn't _be… She never gave him her number… she never _gave him her bloody address!_ But the voice… that _God forsaken voice_; it couldn't be anyone _but _him!

Calling back, she felt a dreadful knot in her stomach when an instrumental ringtone of Schubert's 'Ave Maria' played from behind her flat's main door. Her phone crackled as the call successfully went through, and she noticed that the ringtone from the other side of the door had ceased, "_are you naked or something, demon-midget. Open the-__"_

The phone was dropped onto the bed in mid-conversation and Rukia practically flew to the handle, as if she had a magnetic attraction to it. Virtually ripping the door open, her eyes widened when the figure of the all-too-familiar orange idiot stood right outside the threshold of her home, his phone to his ear and his lips parted in mid dialogue.

Ichigo closed his mouth and turned to criticize why it had taken her so long to open the door when a bunny-slippered foot painfully connected with his shin, "_Shit! _What was _that _for!"

"_You!" _She couldn't find herself even articulating a proper sentence, "_You! How?!"_

Giving a sigh and glancing at his phone, he entered the flat by a single foot; they had time, "get ready for work, meanwhile, I'll explain."

Sense was completely lost to Rukia. _This_ _man_. This tall, over-grown, orange-haired, _stupid berry _of a man had the _audacity _to come into her place as if he bloody _owned _the place and instruct her to get ready for _work _when they clearly had _unsettled fucking business_. She was losing it… absolutely losing it. Leaning against the nearby wall, Rukia rubbed her aggravated temple.

Looking at the spectacle Rukia was making, Ichigo only exhaled and shook his head. You'd think that after knowing a person for a number of years, as tenaciously coquettish as he was, that you'd have at least a reasonable acknowledgment and understanding that he wasn't simply going to jump your bones at the first chance he gets. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, "Rukia."

Voice firm and resolute, Rukia turned to look at him, having somewhat calmed down from the unappreciated horseplay that had unfolded this morning. Ichigo gave her a long stare, "_relax_... and get ready." He finished off with a small smile.

Exhaling deeply, Rukia gave a small nod and headed towards her bedroom. Too drained to really maintain a prolonged resistance. Reaching the door, she placed a hand on the frame and pivoted her head back to him, "You stay outside. _And no peeking._"

Ichigo brought his hands up defensively, "I'm not that much of a creep, have some faith in me." Rukia gave him a final, warning glare before shutting the door behind her. Letting his hands drop back to his sides, Ichigo just grinned at the door before panning around to check out her apartment – he didn't have the time to take a closer look when he was here yesterday night.

Just like her office, the majority of her living was white – white walls, white tiled floor, white cabinets, white tables. There were different shades of it too – ivory, alabaster, beige, snow. A lot of the furniture and housewares, however, were also black, navy or indigo. Ichigo found it to be a largely monotonous world she placed herself in. He couldn't really ruminate on the shade of white. It was empty, basic and had no characteristic to exclusively express what it was. However, thinking of the little devil, Ichigo couldn't really think of any other color that could've defined Rukia as well as white could. Certainly, tinges of violet or the occasional blue would've sufficed – she seemed to have a liking for the cobalt shade and the lilac reflected her eyes. Those fierce orbs shining alight with passion and willpower whenever she was hooked onto setting things right – one of her charms lying in such a strong sense of _being. _He found it humorously ironic at how white could be so _plain _when the actual person favoring it was anything _but_.

"Hey!" Her voice sounded from the other side of the door, "Start explaining!"

Walking around in lazy steps and tinkering with the few ornaments on display, "well… you fell asleep, Rangiku requested that I take you home-" Ichigo silently chuckled to himself at yesterday's events, "I shook you to ask where you lived, but you insisted that I was Rangiku and just fell right back to sleep."

Ears perked at the sound of a handle turning and Ichigo took it as a cue to straighten up and turn to the object of his desires, "so, I went through the company database, pulled up your profile, found your address and at the same time, got your cell phone number."

"I'm pretty sure that's abuse of power, you ass," Rukia growled whilst fixing up her collar, "you could've just woken me up, like a normal person." He simply shrugged, "but this way's more entertaining."

Rukia walked over to her handbag and mentioned for Ichigo to get out of her apartment as she walked towards the door. He slightly frowned at her, "shouldn't you have breakfast?"

"The meetings in an hour and a half. We'll finish the presentation and I'll grab something to eat then."

Rummaging through her bag to obtain her keys, her other hand reached out to grab the handle when a much larger one gripped her wrist. Frowning, she lifted her head up, "_Kurosa-"_

"The meeting is in an _hour and a half-_" Ichigo gently squeezed her thin wrist in his grip, "there are other people working at the company too, Rukia. Leave the preparation to them and _get something to eat_."

She would've protested. Really, she would've. But he was looking at her with such a serious regard that any form of witty retorts she had formulated in her mind died at the base of her throat – he was becoming good at doing that to her, she ruminated, "but… the meeting…"

"A good leader needs to know how to take care of herself first before reaching out to help others," reaching over and taking the keys from where he had left it yesterday night, Ichigo lead Rukia outside her flat. He closed and locked the door behind him, his grip on her never loosening and tugging slightly on her hand. Making their way across the ground floor, he lead her outside the dwelling complex, "I promise it doesn't have to be big, but you _are _going to eat _something_."

Rukia felt her hand warm under his large hold and her cheeks burn against the chilly atmosphere of the morning. This was _so _embarrassing… "O-oi… I get… I get your point. So let go…"

Glancing behind over his shoulder, Ichigo found Rukia following behind him with her face tinged an adorable shade of pink and persistently avoiding his gaze. His clutch slightly tightened and Rukia thought that he would refuse in his usual childish manner, instead Ichigo just gave a small smile as he slowly let go of her hand, the cold morning breeze rushing into the fill the empty space, "we're going in my car because yours is still back at the building, okay?"

Rukia gave a small nod, suddenly, all the fighting-power in her had withered at his unwavering remark, "alright…"

* * *

It was awkward.

_Painfully _awkward.

Sitting across Ichigo at the restaurant's table, Rukia trained her eye solely on her food; lettuce, tomato and eggs. Her ears occasionally twitched at the sound of fork connecting to plate and the murmurs of conversation other people held near their table, "I can't believe you took us to a _restaurant _for breakfast…"

Halfway through his eggs, Ichigo looked up from his platter and raised a brow, "well, it wasn't like you had anything edible in your fridge, Rukia."

Frowning at this, Rukia craned her neck up to stare at him, "how would you know something like that?"

A fork waved lazily in her general direction, "took you home, remember?"

Pair of amethyst immediately dropped back down to concentrate on the vegetables on her plate. Right… _right…_ she forgot about that…

Poking at her lettuce, Rukia pursed her lips at what she was about to say, "I… I'm sorry…"

Ichigo stared at her and wondered why she was being so formal without the usual sarcasm and disdain laced behind her words. Of course, he had seen her icy professional conduct many times throughout the years, but this was too _civilized_… it was _weird_. "For what?"

Rukia could feel her ears growing warm under his gaze, "I'm sure you heard me yell in my apartment… I know you're not the person to take advantage of people. And I know that you at least have some sort of morale… I was just… worked up…"

As much as she had and will deny, Rukia admitted that Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't a _bad _man. In many ways, he was a great man. But with the sudden nuptial request, proposed out of genuine sincerity or not, his all too-familiar orange head and deep honey tinted eyes occupied her thoughts way too many times then she should've allowed.

"Well yeah," Ichigo plopped a cooked tomato in his mouth, tasting a lingering flavor of the bacon and egg that it shared the plate with, "you didn't have to accuse me of _rape_. That was just too far."

"Yeah… I know," the petite woman frowned, more so at herself than at the man's frankness, "I'm sorry for that."

"You don't necessarily have to be sorry, but I'll reiterate that I'm not joking, Rukia." The fork was set on the surface of the wooden table, leaving the plate of food unattended. Ichigo gave an intense gaze at Rukia's down-casted eyes, "the last thing I want to do is lose the trust you have in me -as little as it may be."

"By the way," the fork was picked back up and already driving into the strip of bacon, "are you an ovo-vegetarian?"

At the weird spin of topic, Rukia lifted her head to stare at her boss. The question completely threw her off course, "what? No? Why would you ask that?"

His fork pointed almost offensively at her near-empty plate of food. What the hell was wrong with it?! "You've got no real meat on your plate. How do you even stay _standing_?"

Rukia felt a vein twitch and in reply, she forked her last piece of tomato into her mouth, "it's called _being healthy_. You should try it sometimes, Kurosaki Ichigo." In retaliation, she used her knife to point at his plate – a single strip of bacon surviving on his dish.

Ichigo only shrugged and finished off his breakfast. Picking his glass of water up, he spoke into its rims, "it's called _real_ _food_, Rukia. People need red meat to survive, not rabbit food."

Gulping down her own glass of water, Rukia only scoffed, "with all the oil you're putting in your body, it won't look good forever, you know."

Smirking at her little slip of tongue, Ichigo leant forward provokingly, "you think my body looks good?"

With her mouth agape, Rukia was left speechless. Had she really said that? '_Oh_, _shit. Shit. Shit. Shit._ _Save face, Rukia! Save it right now!' _"N-no! I'm just saying! You're going to be a pig when you get older! I… just… shut up and go!"

Making their way towards the exit, Ichigo could only laugh at Rukia's flushed face. Oh, he was _never _going to let her live this one down.

* * *

Rangiku let out a long sigh and took repeated glances at the silver, office clock positioned above the front counter. The meeting was in thirty minutes and she hadn't seen Rukia anywhere around the building! That woman was always ahead of schedule by a good hour or so, always presiding over the preparations and helping out in case there were last minute modifications that were needed.

Thinking back to yesterday night, Rangiku had to wonder if something really _had _happened between those two. Groaning out loud and clutching at her hair, she hoped to God that Rukia would _at least _be able to make it to the meeting! She didn't want to face Gotei alone! She'd age ten extra years in advance from the trauma she'd have to endure through!

Sprawled in woe over the front desk, the workers at the reception tried to comfort the whimpering woman by repeatedly exclaiming that all would go fine and according to plan, "oh! There she is, Matsumoto-san!" one of them eagerly told her, a trace of relief lacing their tone at the presence of Rukia making her way through the main entrance – Ichigo trailing next to her.

Head of strawberry-blond perked up and pivoted at the familiar voice of her friend bickering with her boss. Rangiku's mood immediately brightened before she heard frantic whispering near her in hushed tones.

"_What are the chances that they came to work together? Acting so righteous all the time, can't believe she fell for Kurosaki-kun."_

"_I was here early in the morning and her car was still in the parking lot… I never pegged her as such a loose woman."_

"_Well, I saw her with his coat just a few weeks ago! Can you believe that! The audacity!"_

Rangiku straightened herself and pursed her lips in a fine line, unimpressed at the words being tossed around so brazenly, _'such audacity, indeed…'_

As they mumbled together, unaware of an extra ear listening in, Rangiku made her way towards the three women - irritation building at the light accusations lacing their words. "Excuse me, ladies."

The three women froze in the middle of their murmuring and looked up at the taller woman. Rangiku's gaze turned icy at their shameless, and almost _bored,_ expressions. One of the women turned to face Rangiku, her arms crossed over chest and her brows dipping into a frown, "can I help you?"

At the snarky retort, Rangiku fought down the urge to slap the scowl off of her face. Instead, she closed her eyes, counted to ten in her mind and took a daring step forward – invading into the latter's personal space and towering over her by an entire head. Her smoky, blue eyes glinted with an eerie light as they bore mercilessly into presumptuous brown, "Insecurity can be _such_ an ugly thing; making you hate people you don't even know-" Rangiku's eyes skimmed over the name tag pinned over the right breast, "_Mizuno-san."_ The shorter woman faintly flinched at how her name was spat out.

"If you have something to say, say it to her face when you're on equal grounds instead of resorting to petty gossip." Rangiku leant in closer to the woman's face and was about to open her mouth to speak again before a hand clapped over her shoulder. "Is there a problem, Matsumoto-san?"

Collecting herself and leaning back up, Rangiku turned to Rukia with a large pout, "I've been waiting _forever_ for you, Rukia-chan! Good morning, Kurosaki-san!"

Ichigo nodded his head in acknowledgment, "Yo."

The corner of her lips twitched as Rukia gave her friend a bright smile, "we'll have a small _talk_ after the meeting is over, _Matsumoto-san_, for what you put me through yesterday." Dropping her hand back to her side, Rukia glanced at the three women standing by, "is there anything I can help with, ladies?"

Rangiku turned back to the trio and flashed them a cautionary smile. Taking the hint, the three hastily bowed in apology before scampering off towards the elevators – effectively earning a puzzled look from Rukia and Ichigo. Rangiku turned to face her friends and clapped her hands together, "well, let's not keep the preparation team waiting! The meeting's going to be in fifteen minutes!"

On their way towards the conference room, Rangiku slightly pulled on Rukia's forearm and whispered near her ear, "what happened in the morning, Kia-chan? You're usually not this late." Immediately, Rukia's face soured at such a question, how could she even _ask _that after what she did! After what she put her through! "Who was the genius who thought it'd be funny to let the boss take her friend home? Hmm, _Rangiku_, I wonder."

At the biting sarcasm, Rangiku could only give an empty laugh, "oh, you don't have to compliment me, Kia-chan. I'm sure things went _ecstatically_."

Glaring over her shoulder, Rukia sent her an 'I'm watching you' gesture with her fingers, "remind me to kill you after the meeting, _Ran-chan_."

Sulking, the voluptuous woman contemplated the options she could use to escape execution at the hands of a certain Ice Princess…

_And it came out in the form of one Kurosaki Ichigo._

* * *

Despite the number of people inside the conference room, it was a_bsolutely silent_.

This was the first time Rukia actually had the opportunity to meet the President of Gotei United Incorporations – _The_ prominent Yamamoto Genyruusai. Despite his age, he was one of the largest profiles to lead the economic market, and a major contributor of exportations of produce to companies _outside _the national border. Partnership with him meant money, reputation and _power_ that would usually take _years_ to foster for any mediocre enterprise – with a single signature from this man, you could establish your company's life in the stock market for years to come.

As such, with the great responsibilities carried on his broad shoulders – and the sheer magnitude of opportunity it presented, being in his presence almost winded Rukia. Yamamoto-shacho hadn't even spoken a _word _and she could already feel her palms sweat. Amethyst orbs trained solely on her heels as the petite woman tried to desperately calm her hammering heart. Taking quick glances at the aged face, Rukia couldn't tell if he was satisfied with their presentation or not, "so who was the one to overlook this preparation?"

Rukia unnoticeably stiffened at the sudden sound of his voice filling the otherwise silent room. Several pair of eyes belonging to her colleagues shifted to the silent woman. Rukia took a small breath and willed herself to face the elderly man, "the project was under my direct care, Yamamoto-shacho."

Responding in a steady voice, Rukia mentally patted her back at her perseverance. It didn't stop her from feeling nervous, however, when the man turned to look directly at her, "Rukia-san, was it?"

Slightly frowning, Rukia wondered if he was going to question her lack of surname, "yes, Yamamoto-shacho."

"I'm certain that the sudden change in schedule threw you off course," his sentence trailed off into silence, and Rukia realized that he had wanted her to answer his statement. Why, oh _why_, was he targeting her!

"It was definitely… abrupt-" Rukia admitted, from the opposite corner of the room, Rangiku made frantic hand gestures at her throat. _'Don't get yourself killed, Kia-chan!' _she mouthed. Rukia clenched her jaw at the sight before turning her attention back to the seated president, "- however, we took immediate action in order to meet your requests."

Yamamoto observed the woman's responses with a critical mind. He found it impressive that in the short amount of time, and at the sudden demand, that she was able to produce a draft of this quality. It seemed as if that Kurosaki boy had a sturdy work force by his side of decent caliber. He pressed on further with his interrogation, "and I'm certain that it wasn't an easy task to do, with the sudden requirement of manpower from your side to fulfill this request…"

Just as Rukia was about to reply, fully intending to disagree and _insist_ that it wasn't a problem, Ichigo slammed his hand down on top of the conference table, his finger pointing accusingly in Yamamoto's direction, "damn right it was, old geezer. Our team broke their backs trying to bring everything together in such a short time!"

Shuuhei tried desperately to quiet his friend down while the lean, Chinese woman standing next to Yamamoto growled, "who do you think you're talking to, Kurosaki!"

In Rukia's mind, all hell broke loose.

Pivoting her head to glare at the man standing next to her, she felt a sharp pain shoot up the side of her neck at the sudden movement. Her mouth was slightly agape in silent rage and she found herself forgetting how to breathe. Normal –_sane -_ people didn't go around calling one of the most notoriously known business heads in the market _old geezers_. She suddenly felt lightheaded at the lack of oxygen regulating through her body. Her small hands gripped firmly at Ichigo's elbow, "_are you_ _fucking crazy, Kurosaki Ichigo. What do you think you're doing!" _she hissed under her breath.

In response, Ichigo acted as if he hadn't heard anything -which was total _bullshit _because she knew he heard her!

"Soifon." The General manager turned back to her boss and silently withdrew at his expression -her piercing glare fixed on the other man. Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and stared at the young man, he also took notice of how frantic the shorter woman next to him had become at his rude outburst. "Do you have something to say, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

Irrespective to her fervent warning, Ichigo gripped Rukia's wrist and brought it in front of him, "don't get me wrong, Mr. President, I'm not trying to offend. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't play such a troublesome game simply to _test _us. I don't know about you, but -" Rukia stopped struggling when she felt the grip around her wrist tighten, "-_My subordinates aren't tools_."

A tense silence fell in the room.

One of the board leaders gave out a low whistle and chuckle softly, "well, _that's _something we haven't heard before; ne, Joushiro?"

From the other side of the table, the pale director tried to usher his elated friend to calm down, "_please_, Shunsui."

Letting out a grunt, Yamamoto called back for the attention of those in the room – his gaze still set on Ichigo. Certainly, in all of his years working as the head of GUI and putting possible allies through demanding tests, he had never seen this type of response before. So _this_ was the man they called Kurosaki Ichigo. He heard rumors surrounding this ambitious leader, and certainly he lived up to them this very moment. Shifting his gaze to the pile of paperwork, Yamamoto couldn't help but acknowledge that the value of the project was something he was willing to share mutual alliance over.

Everyone tensed as Yamamoto got out from his seat and began to walk towards the younger man. Rukia wondered if this was what facing death felt like, "Y-Yamamoto-shacho, please, I can explain. If you're willing to overlook this one incident, I assure you that Kurosaki-shacho will not-"

Yamamoto silently lifted his hand in front of Ichigo's, his single gesture managed to silence the stuttering woman and gain an unwavering stare from Ichigo, "well done, Kurosaki-shacho, I accept your project."

Rukia blinked rapidly at the sudden proposal. She took her hand back and stared at the stationary man. '_Wasn't he going to shake his hand?'_

Letting out a sigh, Ichigo gave the old man a grin, "Rukia-san was the one to overlook this project, sir. I think it's better to seal the deal with her."

With a small, knowing nod of approval, Yamamoto brought his hand lower on level to Rukia's own, "will you accept, Rukia-san?"

Caught by surprise, Rukia hastily bowed and took the large, calloused hands with her own, "y-yes. Thank you for your co-operation!"

Allowing her arm to return to her side, Rukia took a quick side-glance at Ichigo as those of from the other company began to pack.

'_And just like that… you did it again…'_

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_To be continued…_

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**Read. Smile. Review.**

**I will say this now.**

**If I have a chapter that's finished, I ****will**** upload it! I have no intentions of dragging it out, only to update later in the month :]! Either way, I tried to give you guys a bit of a longer chapter! And tried to keep in mind some of the constructive advices that were given (though, I still need to adjust it to my usual style of writing xD).**

**Shacho – President (of a company or business).**

**GUI – Gotei United Incorporations. **

**Trivia:**

**1. Rukia's flat number is 5, the reason I didn't put 15 was because it would mean she wouldn't be living on the first floor. If I ever lived in an apartment complex, I'd make sure to live as close to the ground as possible – you know, in case a fire breaks out and I need to get out of the building quickly!**

**2. Violaceous: I didn't even know this could be a word xD.**

**3. Black Dahlia colored stockings: when I describe an article of clothing, I actually Google different shades of color, style of clothing and material for accuracy! Eerily enough, when Googling stocking colors, I found one that said 'Black Dahlia' (beautiful shade by the way). When I clicked on the 'Search' button – it linked me to a horrific murder case of Elizabeth Short (nicknamed Black Dahlia) who was murdered in California (NSFW and gruesomely explicit photos). **

**4. I mention deities quite a bit in my story; God, Jesus, Buddha and what not. I'm actually agnostic.**

**5. Yes, Rukia has Chappy slippers.**

**6. Ovo-vegetarian: ****type of vegetarianism which allows for the consumption of eggs. I was going to have Ichigo ask if Rukia was an Ovo-lacto vegetarian but it was too much of a mouthful.**

**7. I got the surname Mizuno from the character; Ami Mizuno (otherwise known as Sailor Mercury from the series 'Sailor Moon'). I chose her, because out of the five main Sailor Senshi, I disliked her the most :P (my favorite was Mars and Jupiter).**

**8. Answering ****DinieLuvYunho****'s (Korean? I'm an Australian-Korean!) Question: "****Buddha, Jesus and peanut butter" is actually just a spin off from "****Amen****, ****Hallelujah****, and ****peanut butter****". Hilariously quoted by the character Dutch, from the anime series 'Black Lagoon'. Just tipping my hat off to one of my favorite anime series :D!**

**Regards,**

**M.**


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